Environmental sitting thermal power plant according to Boolean and Index overlay models (Case study: Chabahar town)

Increasing the usage of electricity power illustrates its growing proportion and effective role in the energy economy. It also depicts the connection between using the electricity power and economic development. Regarding the strategic role of power plants in the economic and social development، the absence of the environmental considerations in all phases، including site selection، planning، performance، and exploitation will diminish its output quality and result in many devastating environmental consequences in long term periods. The aim of this study was the utilization of three spatial decision-support methods (Boolean logic، binary evidence and overlapping index of multiple class maps) to determine land suitability for site selecting of thermal power plant based on environmental criteria (ecological and cultural-social) in Chabahar Township. The results showed that Boolean logic method is easier to apply but more limited than the other ones. The most suitable method for combining information layer is overlapping index of multiple class maps. In this method besides weighing the criteria، the internal classes in each information layer are weighed and scored as well. Moreover، the results showed that the area of the most suitable sites is varied between 54 square kilometer to 330 square kilometer and these sites are distributed throughout the whole area.