GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT SITE SELECTION USING GIS IN SABALAN AREA, NW IRAN

ABSTRACT In this study, a Geographic Information System (GIS) was used as a decision-making tool to target potential geothermal power plant sites in Sabalan geothermal field, Northwestern part of Iran. The aims of the study are to identify suitable areas to establish a geothermal power plant (GPP), as the base study for the future investigations and development. After comprehensive study about available data in the area, and required data layers for site selection project, firstly, the available data layers for GPP siting in 1:25000 scale are categorized in three datasets; Physical dataset (slope, hydrology and faults), socioeconomical dataset (population centers, land use and access roads) and technical dataset (anomaly area, wells locations and hot springs). Secondly an integration model in GIS environment was programmed and run, and then the areas were marked as GPP suitable sites. In this knowledge-driven GIS method, from evidence layers, some factor maps were generated and then the Boolean integration methods were used for the combination of the factor maps. ArcMap, consisting of geoprocessing and model builder tools were used for running the GIS Model for Geothermal Power Plant Siting (GM-GPP). Finally, 7 suitable sites, around 1% of the study area were selected.