Optimizing Solar Potential: A Comprehensive Site Selection Analysis for Solar Farms in Penang

Abstract

This project employed ArcGIS Pro's spatial analytic capabilities to identify potential locations for solar farms in Penang, Malaysia. Penang's location near the equator makes it suitable for solar energy. The project sets criteria for site selection, which includes data gathering, classification, distance analysis, and weight overlay to find the best places. The Weighted Overlay method was used to generate a composite suitability map, which resulted in an analysis of the best solar farm locations in Penang. Five best sites were chosen based on technological and environmental considerations. While this initiative does not include the installation of solar farms, it does give useful information for energy planners and regulators seeking to promote sustainable energy and optimize land use in Penang. This paper describes GIS-based research to identify the optimum places for solar farms on Penang Island, Malaysia. The study used ArcGIS Pro to integrate solar irradiation data, land use classifications, topographic slope, and road access to assess site suitability via spatial techniques such as reclassification, kriging, and weighted overlay. The findings highlight areas with high solar potential, suitable slopes, and compatible land usage, indicating many high-potential locations that have been confirmed by ground surveys. Data for the study, including solar irradiation from the internet and slope data from Google Earth Pro, were processed in Microsoft Excel before being put into ArcGIS Pro for analysis. Supervised Classification in ArcGIS Pro will give a land use data and information. This project will provided maps based on all the geographical analyses and give a hint for suitable site for solar farm.