# GIS-Based Wind and Solar Power Assessment in Central Mexico
## 1 Introduction
However, the intermittent nature of solar and wind resources, which are spatially different from one location to another, always necessitates a proper integration of energy storage [9] and a comprehensive geographical analysis of their potential to ensure a cost-effective and reliable design [10]. Due to the above, the energy industries will face new challenges in investing in Mexico; this is why the new proposals for RE projects require the application of the most exhaustive analyses and models based on geospatial information of potential sites for the installation of solar and wind energy sources. GIS technology provides unique capabilities for organizing, analyzing and editing geo-referenced data and spatial maps [11]. GIS technology has recently been applied in the determination of onshore wind dissipation maps and their potential in Turkey [12] and Iran [13,14], evaluation of the onshore wind energy potential in China [15], spatial analysis in the development of a floating offshore wind farm in northwest of Spain [16], assessment of wind/solar resources and hydrogen production within Iran [17], evaluation of the prospects of small-scale pumped hydro energy storage in Tibet [18], finding the optimal geographical location and size of large-scale SPV facilities in French Guiana [19], analysis and optimization of a pure renewable grid system with electric vehicle charging in Australia [20], and assessment of potential geothermal energy areas in China [21]. Given the complexity of decision-related matters in designing energy system infrastructures, GIS provides powerful decision-supporting tools that help judge various alternatives, considering different criteria. The most common application of GIS technology is found in regional and national suitability modeling of solar and wind energy systems, location ranking, and visualizing geospatial data [22; 23; 24]. Several studies have developed a combination of GIS and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to find the best geographical sites and technical potentials of large-scale on-grid SPV, concentrated solar power plants, and off-grid SPV systems in the Economic Community of West African States countries, Mediterranean zone, and Tanzania, respectively. All of the above have topographical, legal and social constraints, and techno-economic and socio-environmental criteria [25; 26; 27; 28]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [29] have also studied this combination, identifying the most suitable places to produce hydrogen by wind energy in Yazd, Iran province. In India, [PERSON] et al. [30] investigated the spatial suitability of solar and wind farm locations based on technical, economic, and socio-environmental perspectives. Likewise, [PERSON] et al. [31]; [PERSON] et al. [32]; and [PERSON] et al. (2019) [33] applied the GIS-AHP approach to identify appropriate locations to construct SPV power plants in Southern Morocco, Eastern Morocco, and Malatya provinces of Turkey, respectively. Additionally, [PERSON] et al. [34] proposed an integrated fuzzy logic with GIS-AHP to prioritize the land suitability for installing SPV farms in Khuzestan province in Iran, based on techno-economic and environmental attributes. [PERSON] et al. [35] built a combination of GIS with AHP and TOPSIS to identify plausible regions in India for installing wind farms at the microscopic level, based on technological, economic, social and environmental aspects. [PERSON] et al. [36] utilized a hybrid combination of AHP-fuzzy TOPSIS and GIS to investigate the spatial suitability of the SPV system in India, by analyzing social, technical, economic, environmental and political aspects. Additionally, [PERSON] et al. [37] and [PERSON] et al. [38] used fuzzy GIS-based solutions for optimal offshore wind location assessment, and to locate and evaluate the potential of SPV plants. Moreover, [PERSON] et al. [39] applied GIS-AHP for the site selection of a WTB-powered hydrogen refueling station located in the Adrar area of Algeria. [PERSON] et al.