Abstract
In response to global energy depletion, this study addresses the critical challenge of selecting optimal wind farm sites in Kuwait, a key pillar of the “New Kuwait” 2035 vision for 15% renewable energy integration. A robust, hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) framework was developed, integrating Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) with Entropy-based objective weighting and Type-2 Fuzzy logic within a GIS environment. This approach effectively mitigates expert subjectivity and manages the high “Footprint of Uncertainty” inherent in complex desert environments. Twenty-six technical, environmental, and socioeconomic criteria—including wind power density, proximity to the national grid, and oil field restrictions—were analyzed at a modern utility-scale hub height of 100 m. The spatial results identified approximately 1444 km² (8.6%) of Kuwait’s territory as ' Highly Suitable’ for wind development, primarily concentrated in the western (Al-Jahra) and northern (Al-Abali) corridors. Validation against existing Shagaya Renewable Energy Park and Global Wind Atlas data confirmed a strong spatial correlation (R2 = 0.84). The identified zones represent a potential generation capacity of 2500 MW, providing a data-driven roadmap for national energy planners to meet sustainability targets while minimizing land-use conflicts with oil production and urban expansion.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- MCDM:
-
Multi-criteria decision making
- FAHP:
-
Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process
- SDG 7:
-
Sustainable Development goal 7 (affordable and clean energy)
- GIS:
-
Geographic Information Systems
- TOPSIS:
-
Technique for order of preference similarity to ideal solution
- Fuzzy TOPSIS:
-
Fuzzy extension of TOPSIS
- DEA:
-
Data envelopment analysis
- WASPAS:
-
Weighted aggregated sum-product assessment
- SWARA:
-
Stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis
- MCE:
-
Multi criteria evaluation
- KISR:
-
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
- MEW:
-
Kuwait Ministry of Electricity and Water
- NPC:
-
Kuwait National Petroleum Company
- IDW:
-
Inverse distance weighting
- LULC:
-
Land use and land cover
- OSM:
-
OpenStreetMap
- SRTM-DEM:
-
Shuttle radar topography mission-digital elevation model
- MCA:
-
Multi-criteria analysis
- EPA:
-
Kuwait Environment Public Authority
- WMCA:
-
Weighted multi-criteria analysis
- RS:
-
Remote sensing
- TIT2-FAHP:
-
Trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy analytical hierarchy process
- CR:
-
Consistency ratio
- WPD:
-
Wind power density
- GCC:
-
Gulf Cooperation Council
- GWA:
-
Global Wind Atlas
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Acknowledgements
The authors express sincere gratitude for the comprehensive reviews provided by Dr. Ahmed El-Kenawy (Mansoura University, Egypt), Dr. Samir Z. Kamh (Tanta University, Egypt), and Dr. Ahmed El-Kasaby (Matrouh University, Egypt). Their insightful comments have greatly enhanced the quality of this paper. Special thanks to the European Space Agency (ESA) for providing Sentinel 2 data. Additionally, this research was funded by NKFI K138079.
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Open access funding provided by University of Debrecen. No external funding was received for this study.
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Mohamed A. Atalla : Writing—original draft, Writing—review, Editing, Visualization, Validation, Software, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data collection and analysis, Supervision, Resources, Project administration, & Conceptualization. Ayad M. Fadhil Al-Quraishi : Writing—review & Editing. Elsayed A. Badawy At-allah : Linguistic review & Editing. Ali Shebl : Writing—review, Editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Visualization, & Conceptualization. Árpád Csámer: writing —review, linguistic review, and editing. Wael M. AlMetwaly : Writing—review, Editing, Visualization, Validation, Software, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data collection and analysis, Supervision, Resources, Project administration, & Conceptualization. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Atalla, M.A., Al-Quraishi, A.M.F., Ataalla, E.A.B. et al. Integrating fuzzy AHP and geo-spatial modeling for wind farm suitability assessment in Kuwait. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46695-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46695-4