Year: 2026 | Month: October | Volume: 13 | Issue: 10 | Pages: 549-564
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20261050
Integrating Geospatial Siting and Energy System Modelling for Solar Energy Transition Planning: A Review with Implications for Gorontalo, Indonesia
Sudarmanto Hasan1, Fitryane Lihawa2, Dewi Wahyuni K. Baderan3, Marike Mahmud 4
1Doctoral Program in Environmental Science, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
2,3,4Postgraduate Program, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
Corresponding Author: Sudarmanto Hasan
ABSTRACT
Planning a solar transition means answering several questions at once: where panels can go, how much the grid can absorb, when investment should happen, and who gets a say in the decision. Too often, photovoltaic suitability is treated as a stand-alone mapping exercise. In this structured review we ask how geospatial site screening, long-term energy planning, LEAP-based scenarios, grid flexibility and governance criteria connect with one another, and we use the answer to sketch a cautious research agenda for Gorontalo, Indonesia.
We documented two Scopus TITLE-ABS-KEY searches run on 8 October 2026 and covering 2021 to 2026. The exports held 435 spatial solar records and 33 LEAP-query records. After the LEAP export was screened down to 25 candidates and four cross-query matches were merged, a working list of 456 records was screened and 168 studies were kept (105 core, 63 partially relevant). All counts and multi-label codes come straight from the final screening workbook. Most included studies appeared in 2025 (48) and 2026 (76). GIS or spatial indicators turned up in 107 studies, energy planning or modelling in 124, grid or flexibility topics in 70, governance or social dimensions in 75, and LEAP in 25. These labels overlap, and they describe which topics are covered, not how well anything performed.
The literature holds many partial attempts at integration, yet metadata alone cannot show that a fully coupled model has never been built. We therefore propose a testable GIS-to-LEAP data-exchange architecture with explicit network and governance feedback. It is a conceptual synthesis, not an implemented or validated optimization system. And because none of the 168 titles or abstracts mentions Gorontalo, our regional recommendations look forward and still need local data and empirical checking.
Keywords: spatial energy planning; solar photovoltaics; geographic information systems; LEAP; energy transition; evidence synthesis; Gorontalo.
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