English abstract
Many countries have switched from utilizing fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural
gas) to renewable energy (such as solar, wind, and hydro) for the generation of electricity
in order to reduce the adverse effects that these fuels have on the environment and human
health. Most Middle Eastern countries, including Oman, are witnessing an increase in the
usage of renewable energy sources. Given that renewable energy will lessen the reliance
on fossil fuels as the primary energy source, using renewable energy to provide electricity
in Oman is increasingly expanding.
The aim of this study was to Identify and select the best locations for future sources of
renewable energy in Oman and to apply suitable technique for selecting the optimal
locations for renewable energy sites in Oman which answered the research questions such
as What are the optimal locations for renewable energy sites in Oman and Which models
are used in the literature for renewable energy site selection?
The data was gathered from various primary and secondary sources for the potential listed
locations. These data were input into a SIMUS software to assess, identify and rank the
best and least preferred locations in Oman. In this study objective and subjective analysis
has been performed and results have been compared. Both the objective (exclusive of
weights) and subjective (inclusive of weights) analysis was conducted using the SIMUS
software.
In terms of Solar energy both the objective and subjective ranked the top 3 locations same
which is Sayq, Sur and Masirah Island and least preferred locations are Khasab and
Qairoon Hairitti but however there was a difference in the results using both analysis as
there is a difference in the ranking from the 4th
position until the 9th rank.
For wind renewable energy SIMUS has ranked Jabal Shams and Qairoon Haritti as the
top two locations in both the objective analysis and subjective analysis but when the least
preferred locations are analyzed, it ranks the locations in a different order. Jalan Bani
Bu,Al Buraimi and Dhank were the lowest ranked under the objective analysis and
different results were gathered while using the expert weights such as Sayq,Seeb and
Buraimi.
