Towards A Fossil Free Energy Production Using GIS Multi-criteria Decision-making Support Tool

Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Vision 2030 calls for renewable energy plansand the adoption of a sustainable development approach. Given the government’s gradualremoval of energy subsidies for local citizens and the current energy crises, the study inhand aims to detect potential investment zones for free fossil fuel energy production. Siteanalysis for renewable energy allocation using GIS to identify potential capability to locatea renewable energy source was applied in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. The study used anaccumulative co-relation matrix between different development sectors, Sinai’sgeographical location and promising future investment scenarios. A set of data analysisprocess was developed to examine potentials and constraints. The analysis revealed that36% of the area is suitable for the development of solar farms and a further 4% for windfarms. These findings could help decision makers to fill the gap between the country’sfuture energy needs and its available natural sources. Applying this methodology acrossthe different areas offering similar potential in Egypt would help to identify more likelylocations for renewable energy production. Wider replication of the method could alsopoint to the significant contribution that different zones in Egypt, and even in other zoneswithin the Middle East region, could make towards a more sustainable future