Alternative Evaluation of Power Plant Sites

Selection of sites for power plants requires a detailed evaluation of a large number of alternative and feasible sites. Site evaluation techniques in practice essentially compare and evaluate the large number of alternative sites with respect to a number of environmental, engineering, socio-economic, and other site characteristics. Elements of such evaluation techniques are mostly subjective. The paper presents a method utilizing the weighting-scaling technique used in the assessment of water resources projects, in which some of this subjectivity can be eliminated. A hypothetical example is presented wherein ten sites are ranked for acceptability using the proposed methodology.