Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Techniques for Optimal Wind Farm Site Selection

Erbil’s rapid in-migration and real-estate expansion have reconfigured Iraq’s internal urban hierarchy, concentrating demand for reliable electricity while intensifying land-use pressures at the metropolitan edge. We conceptualize utility-scale wind siting as a spatial decision problem embedded in a coupled human–environment system and a regionally uneven energy transition. Using Erbil as an instructive case, we develop a comparative geographic information systems (GIS)-multicriteria framework that integrates environmental suitability, infrastructural proximity, and land-use constraints with alternative decision rules (analytic hierarchy process, weighted overlay, simple additive weighting [SAW], TOPSIS, VIKOR) and wind-regime characterization (Weibull). Rather than seeking a single “best” map, we show that method choice produces distinct geographies of feasibility, altering which districts and growth corridors are prioritized for investment. We link these cartographies to grid-relevant, district-level energy potentials to illustrate how siting can relieve peak demand and reduce generator reliance while minimizing land conflict. Across methods, SAW yields the most stable and interpretable patterns for planning, yet the comparative approach is the contribution: It renders model assumptions transparent and decision outcomes contestable. We argue that spatially optimized renewables are not only technical fixes but place-making interventions that shape urban absorption of national mobility. The workflow is portable to semiarid and data-constrained regions, advancing geographic debates on spatial reasoning, transition unevenness, and human–environment governance.