Site Suitability Analysis of Solar Energy Plants in Stony Wasteland Area: A Case Study of Trans-Yamuna Upland Region, Allahabad District, India

Installation of solar power plant units in wasteland areas is not only helpful for land resource management but also expected to create some job opportunities for the local population, infrastructure development, water resource conservation and energy revenue generation. In the present study, the suitable region for installation of the solar PV power plant is identified through the AHP method in combination with cost distance function by considering existing infrastructure in the Trans-Yamuna upland region of Allahabad District. Research finding indicates that it has an insolation value of 1194–1859 h of the sunshine and 498.16–703.73 kW h/m2/day of solar radiation. Thus, the total capacity of the study region is 6263.71 MW (126.74 km2) if 1 km2 area has installed capacity of 49.42 MW, which is further validated with Jalaun Solar Power Plant (Uttar Pradesh) and Bhadla Power Plant (Rajasthan) having 50 MW and 1365 MW solar capacity with an area of 1.012 km2 and 40 km2, respectively. The actual project cost ranges from ₹ 0.04 to 0.1 billion, and the range of difference between the actual and estimated cost is ₹ ± 0.03 billion, while the estimated project cost is ₹ 0.06 billion. Thus, it shows a good comparison agreement between the actual and estimated project cost, and further the present methodology could be useful to install the solar PV power plant in other regions as well.