Interview with Dipl.- Ing. Robin Funk of EMD Germany

Windfair: Is the Wind Energy Industry a priority for your company? How so?

Robin Funk: Being the exclusive sales agency for WindPRO for the German speaking countries, Central and Southeastern Europe, the wind energy industry is our main priority. Over the past 20 years, we’ve been serving the first pioneers as well as today’s transnational companies.

Windfair: How many employees does your company have?

Robin Funk: In Kassel, where our German office is located, we have 7 employees at the moment.

Windfair: How many dedicated to Wind Energy?

Robin Funk: All of them.

Windfair: Do you have any new or upcoming Wind Energy Products or Services?

Robin Funk: End of April we released our new software version - WindPRO 2.9.

Besides two new calculation modules PERFORMANCE CHECK (analysis of the real annual energy production of a single WTG or a wind farm) and SITE COMPLIANCE (TÜV certified module for assessing the wind turbine suitability according to IEC 61400-1 ed.3 (2010)), it is now possible to carry out CFD calculations via WindPRO. Using the MODEL/WAsP-CFD Module, you gain access to a high performance computer cluster at the EMD headquarters in Aalborg (Denmark). CFD calculations are initiated on the user’s PC and carried out on the high performance cluster. Within a few hours, the results are available on the user’s PC and can be used for further calculations in WindPRO.

In cooperation with the Danish company ConWX, we’re offering a mesoscale dataset for Europe in 3x3km raster as a subscription service. This allows users to download time series for wind speed and direction for 7 heights a.g.l. from our server. At the moment, we’re covering the past 17 years, this will be extended to 20 years in the coming months.

Windfair: Do you have any special training programs for your employees?

Robin Funk: Besides the sale of WindPRO for wind farm planning, we’ve been training wind energy professionals for many years. Most of the participants of the German speaking countries come to Kassel to participate in one of the regular courses, but we also offer tailor-made trainings for companies in Germany or abroad. This usually covers our European markets, but we’ve arranged courses in more exotic locations as well.

Windfair: Tell us about your future developments. What can we expect in the next year or two?

Robin Funk: Regarding the development of WindPRO it is essential for us that our users can take part in the development process. We want to continue to adapt the software to the needs and wishes of our customers and we will integrate the latest scientific conclusions.

At the same time we perceive ourselves as initiator for new developments within the wind industry. The increasing number of WindPRO users shows us the value WindPRO has as the planning software for wind farm projects: We think that our software is an important tool for promoting energy change in Germany and other countries.

Thank you for the interview!