A proposal for a site location planning model of environmentally friendly urban energy supply plants using an environment and energy geographical information system (E-GIS) database (DB) and an artificial neural network (ANN)

This study proposes a site location potential model for urban energy supply plants and renewable energy availability using an environment and energy geographical information system (E-GIS) database (DB) and an artificial neural network (ANN). This model addresses the technical methodology of examining the potential for the suitability of urban energy supply plants and renewable energy latency in a region for support material for urban energy supply planning in the draft plan development stage. The applicability of this model is examined by applying it for a planned city in the Republic of Korea, where urban planning is in process. The results from this study are as follows:(1)The E-GIS DB was integrated with geography, climate, and energy-related information to construct an ANN model that can manage, in an integrated manner, the factors that affect the site location of the energy supply plants.(2)The input dataset included the topography, land cover classification, accessibility, water usability, and energy demand, and the target dataset included the system capacity of domestically installed energy supply plants.(3)The site location potential model of the ANN for the urban energy supply plants and renewable energy availability was deduced, and the Levenberg–Marquardt (trainlm) and scaled conjugate gradient (trainscg) algorithms were used. The potentiality class map was constructed for 10 types of energy supply systems and renewable energy resources.(4)The applicability of this energy model was tested in the Gwang-myung/Si-heung public housing district area, a domestic ‘planned city’ of the Republic of Korea. The most appropriate urban energy supply systems for the research area were considered to be the general hydraulic power and solar power based on the topographic conditions and profitable locations for solar resources in Korea. Wind power generation was found to be the least suitable.(5)In terms of the wind energy potential, the technical wind power generation by horizontal – axis wind turbines is unattainable even in the area that has the maximum wind speed, and at least a 10-kW rated power wind turbine should be installed for vertical – axis wind turbines in the research area of interest. In terms of the solar energy potential, the maximum electric power generation potential is 413, 186MJ/month·mesh, which is applied by mono-crystalline bulk PV.