Site Selection for Hydropower Development: A GIS-Based Framework to Improve Planning in Brazil
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 7
Abstract
Small hydropower plants (SHPs) may be considered the most cost-effective and environmentally benign technology for energy production. However, it has been suggested that the social–environmental impacts of SHPs could be reduced through improvements to the planning stage. This work aims to develop a geographic information system (GIS)-based framework to improve SHP planning in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, by providing site selection for development based on social–environmental restrictions. The framework used a GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to classify and weigh each attribute used. The results indicated that the number of planned SHPs is relatively high for Minas Gerais State (203), with the majority either in the Inventory or Project Assigned stages. The results also highlighted priority and nonpriority areas for SHPs by considering the likelihood of the SHPs causing the least and greatest socioenvironmental disturbances, respectively. The GIS-based framework has proved to be effective for improving SHP development in Minas Gerais State while suggesting site selection of priority areas that are likely to cause the least negative social–environmental impacts.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Brazil, for the Master’s Degree Scholarship offered for the development of this work. Also, many thanks to Prof. Dr. Alexandre Celestino for all suggestions and help with the computation of the AHP method as well as to Bruno da Silva Marques and Bruno Ferraz Martins for helping with some of the GIS software tools.
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Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 7 • July 2018
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©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Dec 20, 2016
Accepted: Dec 11, 2017
Published online: May 9, 2018
Published in print: Jul 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Oct 9, 2018
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