GIS-based onshore wind farm site selection using Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making methods. Evaluating the case of Southeastern Spain

When it is necessary to select the best location to implant an onshore wind farm, the criteria that influence the decision-making are not always numerical values but can also include qualitative criteria in the form of labels or linguistic variables which can be represented through fuzzy membership. In this paper, some fuzzy approaches of different Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods are combined in order to deal with a trending decision problem such as onshore wind farm site selection. More specifically, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is applied to obtain the weights of the criteria, whereas the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) is used to evaluate the alternatives. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is applied to obtain the database of the alternatives and criteria which are transformed in a fuzzy decision matrix through triangular fuzzy numbers. The coast of the Murcia Region, located at the Southeast of Spain, has been chosen as the study area to carry out this evaluation. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.