A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, China

Geothermal resources are renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources with distinctive advantages such as local sourcing, good stability, and minimal land occupation. Therefore, the accurate assessment of geothermal resources development prospects holds significant importance for its utiliz...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yongyi Li, Ghaffar Ali, Lianhua Ma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Results in Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025027896
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849239323806793728
author Yongyi Li
Ghaffar Ali
Lianhua Ma
author_facet Yongyi Li
Ghaffar Ali
Lianhua Ma
author_sort Yongyi Li
collection DOAJ
description Geothermal resources are renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources with distinctive advantages such as local sourcing, good stability, and minimal land occupation. Therefore, the accurate assessment of geothermal resources development prospects holds significant importance for its utilization. This study uses factors such as geothermal resource potential, topography, transportation accessibility, energy demand, economic scale and population size to develop a multi-criteria decision tool for evaluating the geothermal resource development prospects. Subsequently, analytic hierarchy process and entropy weighting method are employed to integrate subjective and objective weights. An improved comprehensive weight method is utilized to calculate the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution score, providing an assessment of the development prospects across 315 geothermal resources sites in Guangdong province. Furthermore, spatial distribution patterns and spatial correlations of geothermal resources development prospects are analyzed using GeoDa software through Exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA). The research findings reveal a significant positive spatial correlation in the development prospects of geothermal resources, characterized by both high-high and low-low cluster and dispersion phenomena. The Greater Bay Area (GBA) exhibits the highest level of geothermal resources development prospects, with scores ranging between 0.3 and 0.446, whereas most other areas demonstrate lower scores, predominantly below 0.1 (A score of 1 indicates the highest development prospects and 0 indicates the lowest development prospects). These findings serve as valuable references for policymakers, geothermal industry developers, and stakeholders involved in geothermal resources utilization, considering the demand for clean energy, the geothermal resources in the GBA are more worthy to be developed.
format Article
id doaj-art-afdea778774445d5a3e3a0bd056fa632
institution Kabale University
issn 2590-1230
language English
publishDate 2025-09-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Results in Engineering
spelling doaj-art-afdea778774445d5a3e3a0bd056fa6322025-08-20T04:01:02ZengElsevierResults in Engineering2590-12302025-09-012710672210.1016/j.rineng.2025.106722A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, ChinaYongyi Li0Ghaffar Ali1Lianhua Ma2Research Institute of Interdisciplinary Sciences (RISE) and School of Materials Science & Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, Guangdong, ChinaCollege of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, ChinaResearch Institute of Interdisciplinary Sciences (RISE) and School of Materials Science & Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, Guangdong, China; Corresponding author.Geothermal resources are renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources with distinctive advantages such as local sourcing, good stability, and minimal land occupation. Therefore, the accurate assessment of geothermal resources development prospects holds significant importance for its utilization. This study uses factors such as geothermal resource potential, topography, transportation accessibility, energy demand, economic scale and population size to develop a multi-criteria decision tool for evaluating the geothermal resource development prospects. Subsequently, analytic hierarchy process and entropy weighting method are employed to integrate subjective and objective weights. An improved comprehensive weight method is utilized to calculate the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution score, providing an assessment of the development prospects across 315 geothermal resources sites in Guangdong province. Furthermore, spatial distribution patterns and spatial correlations of geothermal resources development prospects are analyzed using GeoDa software through Exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA). The research findings reveal a significant positive spatial correlation in the development prospects of geothermal resources, characterized by both high-high and low-low cluster and dispersion phenomena. The Greater Bay Area (GBA) exhibits the highest level of geothermal resources development prospects, with scores ranging between 0.3 and 0.446, whereas most other areas demonstrate lower scores, predominantly below 0.1 (A score of 1 indicates the highest development prospects and 0 indicates the lowest development prospects). These findings serve as valuable references for policymakers, geothermal industry developers, and stakeholders involved in geothermal resources utilization, considering the demand for clean energy, the geothermal resources in the GBA are more worthy to be developed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025027896Geothermal resourcesRenewable energyDevelopment prospectsSpatial analysis
spellingShingle Yongyi Li
Ghaffar Ali
Lianhua Ma
A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, China
Results in Engineering
Geothermal resources
Renewable energy
Development prospects
Spatial analysis
title A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, China
title_full A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, China
title_fullStr A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, China
title_full_unstemmed A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, China
title_short A novel multi-criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources: A case-study from Guangdong Province, China
title_sort novel multi criteria spatial analysis approach for evaluating development prospects of geothermal resources a case study from guangdong province china
topic Geothermal resources
Renewable energy
Development prospects
Spatial analysis
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025027896
work_keys_str_mv AT yongyili anovelmulticriteriaspatialanalysisapproachforevaluatingdevelopmentprospectsofgeothermalresourcesacasestudyfromguangdongprovincechina
AT ghaffarali anovelmulticriteriaspatialanalysisapproachforevaluatingdevelopmentprospectsofgeothermalresourcesacasestudyfromguangdongprovincechina
AT lianhuama anovelmulticriteriaspatialanalysisapproachforevaluatingdevelopmentprospectsofgeothermalresourcesacasestudyfromguangdongprovincechina
AT yongyili novelmulticriteriaspatialanalysisapproachforevaluatingdevelopmentprospectsofgeothermalresourcesacasestudyfromguangdongprovincechina
AT ghaffarali novelmulticriteriaspatialanalysisapproachforevaluatingdevelopmentprospectsofgeothermalresourcesacasestudyfromguangdongprovincechina
AT lianhuama novelmulticriteriaspatialanalysisapproachforevaluatingdevelopmentprospectsofgeothermalresourcesacasestudyfromguangdongprovincechina