greenius - Download

The software greenius is distributed free of charge. The installer is a zip-archive containing the actual installer called Greenius_Setup_x.x.x.x.exe, where the x's are replaced by the version code. The compressed format is used since most systems prevent downloading an exe-file. Extract the zip-archive, run the exe-installer and follow the instructions.

Important hint for users with an existing installation of Greenius:

The installer tries to detect whether there is already a previous version of greenius on your computer. If so, the installer will use the same directory for the update. This means that all existing files wil be overwritten by the installer. This applies of course only for those files which are delivered with greenius. In case you have modified data files with their own names, they will left unchanged by the installer. If you want to keep your complete old installation, you should choose a new path name when running the installer.

 

Current Version 4.9.0 (Released 11 Jan 2022):

You may download the current version of the greenius installer after accepting the general conditions:

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.9.0

 

Major changes in version 4.9.0 compared to version 4.5.0:

• Additional systems implemented: Parabolic trough power plant and molten salt tower plant with fluctuating electricity source and electric heater to simulate PV-CSP hybrid solar power plants
• Grid connected PV systems:
  • Inverter output limit and clipping introduced
  • Costs of the PV modules and inverter separated
  • For single axis tracked PV systems the tracking angle can be limited
  • Load curve may be defined and used for PV systems and if a battery is included in the system, excess power will be stored and used when the PV field deliver less energy than required.
• Load curve and OS form: LCOE weighting for tariff periods is introduced
• CSP: power block cool down model implemented considering startup energy need after several shutdown hours
• New Sundials version 4.0.2 included and shipped with greenius
• Several minor bugs fixed

Please note the more detailed change log in the release notes which you may find in your greenius installation directory.

 

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Older Versions:

It is recommended to use always the latest published version but due to several reasons you may want to use an older version, therefore we provide them here for download.

4.5.0 (Released 27 Apr 2018):

Major changes in version 4.5.0 compared to version 4.3.1:

• Default installation directory switched to standard windows directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\greenius)
• Addition of a new up-to-date example project for parabolic trough technology: "Parabolic_Trough_150MW.gpj"
• Implementation of transformation and transmission losses
• Generalization of code for simulations of parabolic troughs, solar towers and PV technologies
• Solar Tower for southern hemisphere is shipped with greenius
• Integration of electric batteries in PV systems
• Singular O&M costs may now be defined for each year of operation
• Reorganisation and generalization of code for enhanced model
• Enhanced model can now be used for single phase fluids (e.g. molten salt) 
• Line focus collectors (in combination with enhanced model):
  • The thermal loss coefficients b_i and optical efficiency can be defined for each section of the representative simulated loop and each operational year. This may for example be used to model HCE damages and replacements.
  • The etaOptModifier parameter allows the manipulation of the given optical efficiency, e.g. in order to model or investigate individual cleaning strategies.
• Fresnel Collectors: As of this version the incidence angle modifier (IAM) for Fresnel collectors shall include not only cosine losses (was already the case), but ALSO collector end losses.
• Meteo Data Component: No window with information about the loaded data is shown anymore when a meteo data component is loaded.
• The menu entry File->Preferences now allows to review the standard component folders and default component files. Both may be changed if necessary.
• Bug Fixes:
  • Save-Changes dialog response "No All" should now work flawlessly.
  • Overwrite-Changes dialog when importing projects should now work as expected on "No all".

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.5.0

4.3.1 (Released 23 Aug 2016):

Major changes in version 4.3.1 compared to version 4.1.1:

• Calculation of solar towers has been basically remodelled
  • Molten salt tower systems can now be calculated with greenius in addition to volumetric air receiver technology
  • Predefined molten salt tower system comes with greenius
  • Tower field and receiver are now integrated in a single tower system component
  • The definition of tower *.gpa files differs from the previous field and receiver files. User-defined fields and receivers have to be migrated manually. Please refer to the manual!
  • The integer identifier for the fluid type in the *.gpa files have been redefined to be equal to parabolic trough technology.
  • The calculation of heat losses for tower systems has been changed! Please refer to the manual!
  • The heliostat field efficiency map is now given at 100% reflectivity, cleanliness and availability instead of nominal values!
• Cost data for parabolic trough and solar tower technology has been updated to values from study published by IRENA ('The Power to Change: Solar and Wind Cost Reduction Potential to 2025')
• New tabsheet 'timesteps' has been added to form Typical Operation Year. It shows power instead of energy values for the user-defined time step.
• Each component *.gpa file now contains the greenius version it was written with as first line.
• on Excel export using the greenius plooter workbook has been added to the manual
• General bug fixing

Known Issues:

• Direct Steam Generation (DSG) model in 1Through configuration probably underestimates the real output. Additionally it is much slower than other configurations.
• Qcol and Qfield are not well calculated for 1Through and Evap+SH configuration in DSG model. However Qout should be correct.

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.3.1

4.1.1 (Released 7 Dec 2015):

Changes in version 4.1.1 compared to version 4.1.0:

• Fixed bug that prevented the costs form to open properly
• Added 110MWel power block, which is not scaled
• Added up-to-date inverters for PV technology

Version 4.1.0 contains several modifications and bugfixes:

• Optimisation of enhanced model (DSG) for parabolic troughs:
  • About 80% to 90% less computational effort without changes of the physical model
  • Higher reliability and better convergence of the solver
  • Number of non-converged steps is now shown in TOY form
• Physical modification of enhanced model (DSG) for parabolic troughs:
  • Mass flow is no longer kept constant over loop length. Density changes can cause significant deviations of nominal mass flow in transient periods
  • Introduction of a buffer vessel (fluid buffer) which is necessary because of varying mass flows
• Actualisation of numerous datasets for photovoltaic modules, wind turbines and non-concentrating solar collectors
• Resolved bug that could cause permanently increasing memory usage with enhanced parabolic trough model
• Freeze protection for simple model added
• Implementation of interface for CoolProp steam tables. (Usage not recommended! Very slow!)
• Documentation and modification of the output variables of a solar field with line focusing collectors
• Migration to new software for help system and manual. Both will have identical content from now on.
• The Energy Plus Weather file format (*.epw) can now be read by greenius meteo component
• The MESOR file format (*.txt) can now be read by greenius meteo component
• The default directory for fuel cells is now created at installation and filled with a default file
• Several bugs fixed for fuel cell technology
• Fuel Cell with storage technology had to be deactivated temporarily
• Tariff creator form offers now the same editing functions as load curve form
• Fixed bug which affected the calculation of grid values when changing temporal resolution in load curve or tariff creator form
• Generalization and improvement of Copy/Paste functions for grids and charts
• The TOY data can now be saved and opened with one click in menu File->Export to Greenius Plotter
• The GreeniusPlotter.xlsm comes now with greenius in order to offer more flexibility for data post processing
• Improved multi screen support
• Example projects Almeria_VTC.gpj and Andasol2014.gpj added

Known Issues:

• Direct Steam Generation (DSG) model in 1Through configuration probably underestimates the real output. Additionally it is much slower than other configurations.
• Qcol and Qfield are not well calculated for 1Through and Evap+SH configuration in DSG model. However Qout should be correct.

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.1.1

4.0.8

Version 4.0.8 contains several modifications and bugfixes:

• Additional 21 new wind turbines are now shipped with greenius. Some deprecated turbines were removed.
• Added the 'wind class' property to the wind turbine component. It does not influence the technical simulation.
• Added PV example project Almeria_PV.gpj
• Bug fixes for all technologies. When calculating with finer temporal resolutions than 1h some results were not calculated for the correct time step length.
• Storage parasitics calculation for parabolic trough fixed
• Fresnel collector model was unintentionally change in greenius version 4.0.7.1. The original collector model is now restored.
• For PV systems DC Cable losses calculation has been corrected. DC cable length must now be given as 'Length per string'. The maximum DC-Losses for cable optimization was reduced from 3% to 1%
• The cross section optimization works now in the range from 1.5 to 95 square mm
• Modified display of technical results for technology 'Process heat with non concentrating collectors'
• Fixed bug that caused the chiller not to satisfy the given demand curve at all times
• Removed error message at end of simulation of a fuel cell project
• Cell Temperature is now displayed correctly in the technical results for PV systems
• Release notes come now with greenius
• greenius manual now comes shipped with greenius

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.0.8

4.0.7

Version 4.0.7 contains several modifications and bugfixes:

• Major improvements in the solver of the steam generation model that provides significant speed-up
• Bugfix for a crash that could occur while simulating Fresnel collectors
• The PV cell temperature was added to the result output
• Reference power plant project file Andasol1.gpj is now called Andasol.gpj and contains actualised data
• Numerous bugfixes regarding simulations with a temporal resolution finer than 1h
• Fix for a bug that caused wrong loading of data files on operating systems with another decimal marker than a point
• It is now checked before the simulation start whether a valid chiller component is defined
• The values in the definition tables for load curve, operating strategy and variable remuneration tariff is now automatically scaled when changing the temporal resolution
• Added field for the display of the gross power block efficiency in the power block dialogue
• Removed the parameter 'maximum annual fossil energy' in the boiler dialogue. The heat generation of the boiler is not capped anymore.
• Fix for bug that caused writing useless lines without data when saving load curve data

[EDIT 29 Oct, 2014 10:00h GMT+1]
Info: The initial release 4.0.7.1 unfortunately contained a bug that caused an error when opening the power block form. We have resolved this issue now and released version 4.0.7.2 which is now linked below. We apologise for any inconveniences.

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.0.7

4.0.6

Version 4.0.6 contains the following features and modifications:

• Temporal resolutions below one hour may be used for simulation (provided that the meteo data file has this resolution)
• PV module and inverter data sets have been replaced by current data sets
• User-defined operating strategy and the relevant chapter in the manual have been updated

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.0.6

4.0.3

Version 4.0.3 contains a bugfix for the "global irradiance on tilted planes"-tool and for the IAM function for troughs (the older versions of FreeGreenius on this website are using an IAM function which is different to that described in the help file and the manual).

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.0.3

4.0.2

Version 4.0.2 contains a bugfix for a "file-path error" occuring for the solar process heat with concentrating collectors technology.

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.0.2

 4.0.1
Version 4.0.1 has only some minor bugfixes compared to version 4.0.0 but the major difference is that now all technologies including solar process heat, solar cooling and concentrating PV are available.

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.0.1

4.0.0
This is the first published version of FreeGreenius where some technologies are disabled:

Accept general conditions and start Download of 4.0.0