GIS-AHP-GAMS based analysis of wind and solar energy integration for addressing energy shortage in industries: A case study

Industries have suffered significant financial losses due to inadequate electricity supply. This article proposes using renewable energies to address the energy shortage issue in an industrial area in Iran. A GIS-AHP-GAMS approach is used to assess wind and solar energy potentials based on 11 criteria to determine suitable areas for constructing a power plant. An optimization problem is solved using GAMS software to propose optimal power plants to minimize unsupplied energy to the industrial unit. The problem is solved under various constraints and four scenarios, and the initial investment cost equal to the financial loss incurred by the industrial unit. In the first scenario, the optimal power plant consists only of solar panels and inverters, with a cost of energy (COE) of 0.175 $/kWh and an energy supply index improved up to 77%. The second scenario eliminates land cost, reducing COE by 3.5%, while energy supply improves by 2.5% compared to the first scenario. The third and fourth scenarios propose an equal combination of solar and wind energy and constructing the power plant in remote areas, respectively. Although the COE increases significantly in these scenarios, the energy supply indices in the fourth scenario improve compared to the first scenario.