This analysis looks at suitable areas for a solar farm in British Columbia (BC). First, the current state of energy in BC as well as the viability of solar power in the province is examined with respect to the current plans and goals of the provincial government. We found that solar power can not replace hydropower but that the potential for solar power as an additional source of energy has not been fully realized within BC. For the first part of our analysis, we completed a weighted MCE based on factors and weights determined from a literature review. From this we concluded the north-east portion of the province (east of the Rocky Mountains) had the largest amount of suitable land. In the second portion of our analysis, we overlaid Boolean constraints on the north-eastern area of the province in order to determine the most suitable locations where a solar farm could be built. The result of our analysis is 5029 square kilometers of highly suitable land that is free of constraints.

Table Of Contents

1. Introduction
   1. Project overview and goals
   2. The state of energy in British Columbia
   3. Assessing the viability of a solar farm
2. Methodology
   1. Data used
   2. Analysis overview 
   3. MCE factors 
   4. Constraints 
3. Results
   1. Initial provincial wide MCE
   2. Local constraints 
4. Discussion & Conclusions
   1. Error & uncertainty 
   2. Sensitivity Analysis
   3. Discussion of initial provincial wide MCE results
   4. Discussion of local results 
   5. Final conclusions