Natural Gas Investment Region Selection by Multi-criteria Decision Making and GIS: A Case Study in Kocaeli City, Turkey

Abstract

Ensuring gas supply to customers is among the top customer satisfaction goals of natural gas distribution companies. Natural gas strategic investment projects are planned according to the annual budget determined by Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) in order to provide natural gas supply in line with customers' connection demands. The presence of many criteria in the planning process makes region selection very difficult. Choosing the right investment area is extremely important in terms of budget and material/equipment management. The aim of the study is to minimize the difficulties experienced in determining natural gas strategic investment project regions and to provide natural gas supply to customers in the fastest and most efficient way. In the study, natural gas investment regions in the Kocaeli Region were determined by multi-criteria decision support analysis (MCDA) and the most suitable regions were determined. These criteria are customers' natural gas connection requests, distance to natural gas distribution lines, settlements, forest areas, highways, active faults, proximity to regional regulators and protected (natural protection) areas. These criteria are divided into 6 score classes. Vector and raster maps of the determined criteria were obtained and classification and weighting processes were applied. The most suitable investment regions were determined according to their importance by using the weighted overlay method on the maps obtained.