Selection of suitable sites for solar power plants requires spatial evaluation taking technical, economic, and environmental considerations into account. This research has applied a fuzzy logic model to carry out spatial site selection for solar power plants in Markazi Province of Iran. Geographical Information System (GIS) capabilities have been used for spatial analysis and visualization of the research results. The suitable areas for solar power plants installation were identified by employing Boolean logic and defining a range of selection criteria all of which were evaluated by fuzzy functions. The raster layers of Boolean and fuzzy logic have been combined to come up with suitable sites with solar energy potential. The results identified some areas in the vicinity of Mahalat and Zarandineh cities as suitable for solar energy utilization. The research also validated the employed combined method as a suitable site selection approach for solar power plants.

Sustainable waste management, particularly in industrial areas, is one of the major challenges of developing countries. Among the important issues in the overall process of industrial wastes management is the necessity of suitable site selection for waste disposal. Considering the effects that the disposal sites exert on their surrounding ecosystem and environment, these sites should be located in places with the minimum destructive effects and the lowest environmental impacts. The aim of this research is to outline important criteria for industrial zone waste disposal site selection and to select optimal and proper disposal sites in the Salafchegan special economic zone. This region, as one of the most important industrial areas and closest to the country’s political–economic center, enjoys a privileged and unique position for producing, exporting, and transiting goods and products. There are various parameters involved in the optimal selection of suitable industrial waste disposal sites. In this case study, issues such as the depth of groundwater, distance from surface- and groundwater, access routes, residential areas, industries, power transmission lines, flood-proneness, faults, slope, and distance from gardens and agricultural lands were taken into account. Following selection and preparation of the maps related to the influential parameters, assigning weights was done through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and using expert comments. At this stage, the maps and weights related to them were introduced into an index overlay model to obtain new maps from combining the influential parameters. Thereafter, the areas with the first and second priorities were selected and out of each one, four sites were suggested for disposing of industrial wastes. The sites with the first and second priorities were specified as A1, A2, A3, and A4 and B1, B2, B3, and B4, respectively. The area, groundwater depth, distance from residential areas, distance from the Salafchegan special economic zone, the direction of the predominant wind, and the land use of the selected sites were also investigated.