**6. Results and Discussions**

In this section, the results will be displayed. The regional data and the method shown in Figure 7 were applied to show the map's layers, constraints, and classifications. Furthermore, the results of similar studies are mentioned and compared, and the wind energy in the province is compared with other provinces.

After executing the AHP weights for the criteria, the classified map is illustrated in Figure 14. The province was categorized into nine classes, and the green and red areas, respectively, are the best and worst areas for this province. No restrictions were applied in this figure. Looking more carefully at restrictions and comparing them with the slope and elevation map, it can be seen that many of the green areas that are prone to wind farm construction are located in places with high altitudes and high slopes.

**Figure 14.** Categorized area based on AHP criteria.

The other essential criteria for this site selection study were the distance from communication routes, substations, and power lines. The remoteness of communication routes, substations, and power lines have adverse effects due to the increase in the cost of installation and maintenance costs. Moreover, the construction of new substations and power transmission lines will cause a sharp increase in the initial and maintenance costs of the

whole system. In addition, the increment in the power line's lengths causes more power loss and voltage drop. Therefore, more distant lands have become less of a priority.

The importance of these criteria is of great significance. It has made the northeastern regions of the province, with lower wind speed than the center of the province, have a higher priority for the construction of wind farms. Consequently, the southern regions have the worst conditions due to being deserted and far distance from the roads and power network facilities.

Restrictions were applied to reach the final classified area. The red areas shown in Figure 11 have been removed from the final map based on existing restrictions. Figure 15 shows the final classified map after the restrictions are applied. Due to many residential areas, communication roads, and electricity installations in the northern part of the province, these buffer zones were removed from the final map.

After removing the restricted areas, the best available areas are located on the western side inclined to the province's center and in a small part in the east of the province. According to the classified map, southern areas that are not restricted on account of low population density and lack of cities and protected areas have less priority.

**Figure 15.** Final categorized map by imposing restrictions.

Figure 16 demonstrates the area of each class with and without restrictions. Classes 9 to 1 are, respectively, the best and worst areas. Class 4 has the largest area (about 16.9%), followed by Class 3 with 14.5%. Only slightly more than 4% of the areas are in Class 9, the best class. The total of the classified areas after removing the buffer zones is a little over 65,000 km2.
