10.57647/j.jrs.2025.1504.31

GIS-aided site selection for solar panel installation in rangeland areas of Mashhad County of Iran

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  • Mostafa Dastorani*1,
  • Masoud Jafari Shalamzari2,
  1. Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran
  2. Department of Environment, Tabas Office, South Khorasan Province, Tabas, Iran

Received: 2024-05-05

Revised: 2024-08-22

Accepted: 2024-11-08

Published in Issue 2025-09-14

Copyright (c) 2025 Mostafa Dastorani, Masoud Jafari Shalamzari (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Dastorani, M., & Jafari Shalamzari, M. (2025). GIS-aided site selection for solar panel installation in rangeland areas of Mashhad County of Iran. Journal of Rangeland Science, 15(4), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.57647/j.jrs.2025.1504.31
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Abstract

Most areas of Iran enjoy more than 300 days of good sunshine for photovoltaic energy production and the potential for wind energy production is also immense. In this study we evaluated the suitability of Mashhad County rangelands in Iran for the installation of photovoltaic panels. Mashhad is a mega city with a growing population due to its religious importance and the traveling pilgrims coming to the city to visit the Holy Shrine each year. We evaluated the rangeland areas based on several factors including topographic features (slope gradient, slope direction and height), roads and infrastructure, built-up areas, environmentally protected areas, solar photovoltaic output potential, air temperature, land cover and active fault lines using the multicriteria evaluation method. Since most of the area is flat with minor elevations, there is no limitation for energy production. The largest share of the area has slope gradient of less than 15% (3303 km2), this factor also imposes no limitation. In terms of elevation also 42% (4335 km2) of the area below 2000m is suitable for solar farm construction. There are some 72 active faults in the area. In total, 7.3% of the total area is covered with protected areas accounting for ~720 km2 which is not suitable for solar farms. In terms of land cover, 72% of the area is available for constructing solar farms. There is also no limitation in terms of air temperature and potential PhotoVoltaic (PV) output. The final suitability map was obtained by combining these layers and then divided into five classes. Based on our results, the suitable class had the largest share of the final map. Highly suitable areas comprise 14.1% of the total area. The excluded lands from the analysis due to the limiting factors made up approximately 56% equal to 5811 km2. In total, Mashhad County has considerable potential for solar energy production.

Keywords

  • Climate Change,
  • Desert,
  • Photovoltaic,
  • Renewable,
  • Khorasan Razavi,
  • Iran
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