Multi criteria analysis to evaluate the best location of plants for renewable energy by forest biomass: A case study in central Italy

This paper presents preliminary results of a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) process in GIS environment for the identifications of sites suitable for building biomass plants. Today, environmental assessment needs of Decision Support Systems (DSSs) able to consider several aspects in a unique analysis framework. Biomass to energy projects are highly geographically dependent and the plant's profitability can be strongly influenced by its location. The complexity of interaction among ecological, economic and political variables and a widespread lack of data availability lead to difficulty in bringing together large-scale analysis and local planning systems. This gap can be solved through flexible tools able to relate large scale environmental assessment with medium and small scale DSS, useful for local decisions makers.