# Support VelantisWind

**Open-source wind energy workflows, directly inside QGIS.**

VelantisWind is a free and open-source QGIS plugin designed to support early-stage wind farm analysis, validation workflows and geospatial pre-assessment tasks.

The project brings together wind energy calculations and GIS-based workflows in a single QGIS environment, helping users work with layouts, wind resource data, wake effects, noise assessment and shadow flicker analysis.

VelantisWind is designed to be transparent, adaptable and useful as a complement to existing technical workflows.

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## Official support and donation route

Donations, sponsorships and public recognition are managed from the GitHub project pages:

- Support information: <https://github.com/Velantis-Wind/VelantisWind/blob/main/SUPPORT.md>
- Supporters page: <https://github.com/Velantis-Wind/VelantisWind/blob/main/SUPPORTERS.md>

For sponsorship questions, validation cases, academic collaboration or technical partnerships, contact VelantisWind at:

**info@velantiswind.com**

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## Why support VelantisWind?

VelantisWind is built around a simple idea:

> Wind energy tools should be more transparent, accessible and adaptable to real project workflows.

The project aims to provide an open-source foundation that can be tested, improved and validated with the support of users, consultants, developers, researchers, universities and technical partners.

Your support helps transform VelantisWind from an open-source plugin into a more robust, documented and validated tool for practical wind energy workflows.

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## What your support helps fund

Your contribution helps us work on:

- Plugin maintenance and stability.
- Documentation, tutorials and examples.
- Validation with real wind farm cases.
- Translation of the interface and user guides.
- Improvements in the AEP, wake, noise and shadow flicker modules.
- Compatibility with QGIS workflows.
- Support for beta testers and early adopters.
- New features requested by users and technical partners.
- Practical feedback from consultants, developers and researchers.

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## Support options

VelantisWind can be supported in three simple ways:

| Option | Best suited for | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| One-time support | Individuals, users, students, open-source supporters or companies making a single contribution | Support development, documentation and validation without a recurring commitment. |
| Monthly sponsorship | Regular users, professionals, companies or organizations | Support long-term maintenance and continuous improvement. |
| Validation or academic collaboration | Companies, consultants, universities or project teams | Explore validation cases, pilot testing, documentation, research or specific technical collaboration. |

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## One-time support

One-time support is open to anyone who wants to contribute to the project without a monthly commitment.

| Level | Contribution | Recognition |
|---|---:|---|
| Open Supporter | Custom amount, from €1 | Optional acknowledgement. |
| Project Supporter | €25 | Optional name in the supporters list. |
| Professional Backer | €100 | Name and optional link. |
| Organization Backer | €500 | Small logo or organization mention. |
| Major Backer | €2,500 | Featured recognition and optional technical discussion. |

Recognition is optional. Supporters may choose to remain anonymous.

Larger one-time contributions can be especially useful for funding documentation, translation, validation cases, example datasets, interface improvements or specific development milestones.

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## Monthly sponsorship

Monthly sponsorship helps support the long-term maintenance and evolution of VelantisWind.

| Level | Contribution | Recognition |
|---|---:|---|
| Community Sponsor | €5 / month | Optional name in the supporters list. |
| Professional Sponsor | €25 / month | Name and optional link. |
| Workflow Sponsor | €100 / month | Small logo or organization mention. |
| Validation Sponsor | €250 / month | Logo recognition and validation sponsor mention. |
| Partner Sponsor | €500 / month | Featured logo recognition in GitHub, documentation, website or the plugin About/Sponsors section. |

Monthly sponsorship does not create ownership, exclusivity or control over the open-source roadmap.

However, higher support levels may help accelerate documentation, validation, technical improvements and workflow-oriented development.

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## Visibility and recognition

Depending on the support level and the preference of each supporter, VelantisWind may provide public recognition through different channels.

| Channel | Possible recognition |
|---|---|
| GitHub README | Name, organization or logo in the project repository. |
| [Supporters page](https://github.com/Velantis-Wind/VelantisWind/blob/main/SUPPORTERS.md) | Supporter list grouped by contribution level. |
| Plugin interface | Sponsor or partner visibility inside the About / Sponsors section. |
| Documentation | Recognition in documentation, tutorials or release notes. |
| Website | Logo or name visibility on the official VelantisWind website, if agreed. |
| Case studies | Mention in validation cases or pilot projects, when agreed by both parties. |

Recognition is optional. Supporters and sponsors may choose to remain anonymous.

Logo visibility does not imply technical endorsement, ownership, exclusivity or control over project decisions.

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## Academic and research collaboration

VelantisWind is also open to collaboration with universities and research groups.

The project can provide a practical open-source framework for applied academic work in wind energy, GIS, environmental assessment, renewable energy engineering and QGIS plugin development.

One possible collaboration model is to connect VelantisWind with future Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis projects, so that student work with real technical value can contribute to the evolution of the plugin.

Potential academic collaboration areas include:

| Area | Example |
|---|---|
| Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis projects | TFG or TFM projects focused on improving, validating or extending parts of VelantisWind. |
| Applied research | Wind resource analysis, GIS-based workflows, environmental assessment or renewable energy planning. |
| Plugin development | New QGIS tools, interface improvements, data handling or reporting features. |
| Validation studies | Comparison with real cases, reference calculations or internal academic workflows. |
| Documentation and education | Tutorials, teaching material and open-source learning resources. |
| New modules | Development of additional features that may be integrated into the project if technically aligned. |

Academic contributions can be reviewed case by case and, when they are useful, technically sound and aligned with the project, they may be integrated into the open-source repository.

This approach allows universities and students to work on practical renewable energy tools while contributing to a real open-source project.

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## Partnership options

Companies, consultants, universities and wind energy professionals can collaborate with VelantisWind in different ways.

| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Beta tester | Test the plugin and provide feedback. |
| Validation partner | Compare results with real projects or internal workflows. |
| Technical contributor | Help improve calculations, documentation or examples. |
| Sponsor | Help fund maintenance, validation and new features. |
| Academic partner | Collaborate through applied research, TFG/TFM projects, validation studies or educational use cases. |
| Founding partner | Support the long-term development of the project through a strategic collaboration. |

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## Open-source commitment

VelantisWind will remain free and open source.

Sponsorship is optional and helps accelerate development, validation, documentation and long-term maintenance.

Sponsorship does not imply ownership of the project, exclusivity, or control over the open-source roadmap.

Technical collaborations, academic collaborations and project-specific developments can be discussed separately depending on the needs of each partner.

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## Contact

For sponsorship, collaboration, validation cases, academic collaboration or technical partnerships, contact VelantisWind at:

**info@velantiswind.com**
