WindPRO 2.7 Service Pack 1 Release

Please be advised that we plan to release a Service Pack 1 to WindPRO V2.7 next week.

The Service Pack is currently in testing and once it is ready for release, we will notify users in a separate e-mail.

Although, we have received a lot of positive feedback from our users about the many new features included and the improved stability of V2.7, we have discovered a few issues after the release, which can be fixed by installing the Service Pack 1. The issues fixed include:

• Loading 2.6 projects with meteo objects, which were created in another language than the actual (or from a not fully translated version, especially the Swedish), have caused problems due to language mishmash in the signal names.
• Focus lost on map window after report preview, meaning that you needed to activate another window and then reactivate the map window to be able to continue to work in the map window.
• Shadow lines on maps were wrong in very special situations – Seemed only to be in the northern direction, where the calculation point on the map only get the flicker hours from the turbine giving most flicker, not from the other turbines, which give flicker hours in that point (typically it will only happen in the North that more turbines give flicker the same hour at the same point – on the Southern hemisphere, it will be in the South).
• .NTF elevation data imported with wrong datum due to change of default datum in 2.7 to WGS84.
• Activation of more than one co-license to same e-mail address now explained as "not possible" - Before no explanation has given, the activation process just did not continue.
• PARK sometimes creates an error after a "clean up" process just after starting a recalculation – This has now been fixed.
• Some language problems fixed / missing translations improved. (Polish and Portuguese were "switched" in the WindPRO Language Selection-window).
• WAsP10 calculation engine is updated, so the previous described problem with .map files > 750.000 points has now been solved.
• Number of digits for roughness length in WAsP Parameter file expanded to 4.

New coordinate systems included in Service Pack 1:

• French Lambert 93
• Canadian MTM systems
• Slovakian Krovak S-JTSK
• UTM WGS 84/ETRS89 Zone in X; with zone in x coordinate (like X = 555.000 zone 32 is written 32.555.000)
• German UTM ETRS89; with second digit from zone in x coordinate (like X = 555.000 zone 32 is written 2.555.000).

Increased Activities at EMD create new Jobs

In a time, when many businesses sadly have to reduce staff, it is always positive to report whenever a company is able to offer new jobs with exciting challenges.

At the annual meeting for members of the EMD association earlier this week, the board approved a plan to increase the staff at EMD due to the very positive trend in WindPRO license sales and consultancy activities in recent years. This expansion will ensure a faster development of the WindPRO software package in the coming years and will also provide additional resources to the wind consultancy department, which has experienced a huge increase in international consultancy activities during the past years, especially within delivery of bankable wind resource assessment reports and due diligence services for both existing and planned wind farms.

As part of the short-term strategy, EMD is planning to increase to number of employees from the present 19 to approx. 25 employees during 2010.

Currently, EMD has three job openings for two wind energy consultants and one project manager within our energy systems dept. Within a short while, a new job opening for a CFD expert will also be published on the EMD web site: www.emd.dk

If you are interested in reading the EMD Annual report for 2009, just click here.

Back to top

Coastal Locations very sensitive to Calculation Parameters

After the release of the new WAsP 10, where the stability correction for offshore has been modified, we have tested this issue very intensively. This has lead to new findings. The most important is that for coastal projects (off or onshore), the vertical extrapolation is extremely sensitive to the roughness values – also with previous WAsP versions.

As it is now, a roughness class 0 gives a very low shear and thereby a very small increase of wind speed with height, while a roughness class just above 0, like class 0.2, gives a very high shear and thereby large increase in wind speed with height. It is therefore crucial to be very careful in coastal regions.

One way to test the influence of the stability in the calculations is to modify the WAsP parameters, like by setting the onshore heat fluxes to the offshore default values, and thereby force the calculation to use offshore stability. This will give the most conservative estimate for coastal locations. What the actual stability correction should be at a given coastal site can only be found through measurements.

At high roughness Sites extrapolation problems can be avoided

If the site has high roughness (> class 3 = length 0.4) such as from heavy forest, WAsP 9 will by default extrapolate from roughness class 3 as this is the highest roughness class in WAsP 9. This can cause quite uncertain estimates, which can be reduced by adding a 5th roughness class (class 4 = 1.6 m length) in the WAsP parameter files before generating the wind statistic with STATGEN or from MCP. Remember to change both the number of standard roughness classes from 4 to 5 and to insert the value of e.g. 1.6m for the fifth class.

Wind Index to Excel

WindPRO has a quite advanced wind energy index calculation feature in the MCP module. The wind data can both be scaled to the expected site mean wind speed and it can be filtered with a power curve. Often comparisons with actual turbine production are performed in Excel, and it can be convenient to get the MCP data into Excel.

This is easily done by double clicking on the graph showing the wind energy index (tab measure in MCP). In the "editing chart" form, which will appear, choose "Export" on the first tab row, then "Data" on the next tab row and choose "Copy". Just keep the "text format", then "paste" into Excel. Do not use the format "Excel" as this only creates problems because special formats are then saved in the excel sheet that limits the features in the excel sheet.

Use of Google Earth Placemarks in WindPRO

Help from Google Earth to log the position of control points (photomontage), obstacles (energy), houses (decibel, shadow), or 3 points for map calibration in WindPRO:

• Insert a placemark in Google Earth at the relevant location
• Right click on the placemark, Save as a kmz file
• In the object list of WindPRO, right click, import from kmz file

The placemark is imported in WindPRO at the exact position. To use it for map calibration copy and paste to excel.

Back to top

Upcoming WindPRO Training Courses

EMD is pleased to offer you the following 3-day WindPRO International Training Courses during the first half of 2010:

• Rome, Italy, April 7-9, 2010 (in Italian)
• Grand Forks, ND, USA, April 20-22, 2010
• Kassel, Germany, May 4-6, 2010 (in German)
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 11-13, 2010
• Barcelona, Spain, May 18-20, 2010 (in Spanish)
• Dallas, TX, USA, May 26-28, 2010
• Paris, France, May 27-28, 2010 (in French)
• Aalborg, Denmark, June, June 1-3, 2010
• Paris, France, June 3-4, 2010 (in French)
• Kassel, Germany, June 8-10, 2010 (in German)
• Grand Forks, ND, USA, June 22-24, 2010
• Kassel, Germany, June 22-24, 2010 (in German)
• Beijing, China, June 28-30, 2010 (in Chinese)

Upcoming Advanced Courses

• Rome, Italy, April 12-13, 2010
• Dallas, TX, USA, May 27-28, 2010
• Barcelona, Spain, June 1-2, 2010
• Aalborg, Denmark, June 15-16, 2010
• Istanbul, Turkey, June 23-24, 2010

The advanced courses are aimed at existing WindPRO users, who would like to use the more advanced features that only “expert users” normally know and understand. Also presentation of new modules and tools will be in focus. The course is organized as a workshop, which means that the participants may address other topics related to WindPRO and receive tips and tricks in using specific parts or features within the software package in addition to the course topics.

For full details about all WindPRO training courses and on-line registration, please visit www.emd.dk.

Exhibitions where you can meet EMD

During the first half of 2010, EMD will be exhibiting at the following exhibitions and conferences:

• EWEA, Warsaw, Poland, April 20-23, 2010 – Stand no. 3441
• ICCI, Istanbul, Turkey, May 12-14, 2010 – Stand no. F8
• AWEA , Dallas, TX, May 23-26, 2010 – Stand no. 1810

We look forward to meeting you at our stands at the different exhibitions and shall be pleased to give you information and a demonstration of the different WindPRO modules and the new features released in version 2.7.

Unsubscribe

If you would like to unsubscribe from future mailings from us regarding our newsletter and related products and services, please email: emd@emd.dk.

Back to top