diff --git a/wetb/prepost/dlctemplate.py b/wetb/prepost/dlctemplate.py
index e056518739425b28646324a6a502f2b7f12f8d87..beb9d5424b28d5ff539b26b4d3ab1c6d202f0ef4 100644
--- a/wetb/prepost/dlctemplate.py
+++ b/wetb/prepost/dlctemplate.py
@@ -338,11 +338,11 @@ def launch_dlcs_excel(sim_id, silent=False, verbose=False, pbs_turb=False,
         # respective nodes. It is not walltime per case.
         sorts_on = ['[DLC]', '[Windspeed]']
         create_chunks_htc_pbs(cases, sort_by_values=sorts_on, ppn=20,
-                              nr_procs_series=9, processes=1,
-                              walltime='20:00:00', chunks_dir='zip-chunks-jess')
+                              nr_procs_series=9, walltime='20:00:00',
+                              chunks_dir='zip-chunks-jess')
         create_chunks_htc_pbs(cases, sort_by_values=sorts_on, ppn=12,
-                              nr_procs_series=15, processes=1,
-                              walltime='20:00:00', chunks_dir='zip-chunks-gorm')
+                              nr_procs_series=15, walltime='20:00:00',
+                              chunks_dir='zip-chunks-gorm')
 
     df = sim.Cases(cases).cases2df()
     df.to_excel(os.path.join(POST_DIR, sim_id + '.xls'))
diff --git a/wetb/prepost/simchunks.py b/wetb/prepost/simchunks.py
index 4e4d560313bf88756054d24e0dd5981a4bca617b..0fc2f8eff7501e3ccc26cb14de71518a6c2df8f1 100644
--- a/wetb/prepost/simchunks.py
+++ b/wetb/prepost/simchunks.py
@@ -32,10 +32,9 @@ import pandas as pd
 from wetb.prepost.Simulations import Cases
 
 
-def create_chunks_htc_pbs(cases, sort_by_values=['[Windspeed]'], ppn=20,
-                          nr_procs_series=9, processes=1, queue='workq',
-                          walltime='24:00:00', chunks_dir='zip-chunks-jess',
-                          pyenv='wetb_py3', i0=0):
+def create_chunks_htc_pbs(cases, sort_by_values=['[Windspeed]'], ppn=20, i0=0,
+                          nr_procs_series=9, queue='workq', pyenv='wetb_py3',
+                          walltime='24:00:00', chunks_dir='zip-chunks-jess'):
     """Group a large number of simulations htc and pbs launch scripts into
     different zip files so we can run them with find+xargs on various nodes.
     """
@@ -187,7 +186,7 @@ def create_chunks_htc_pbs(cases, sort_by_values=['[Windspeed]'], ppn=20,
         # =====================================================================
         # activate the python environment
         pbs += 'echo "activate python environment %s"\n' % pyenv
-        pbs += 'source activate %s\n' % pyenv
+        pbs += 'source /home/python/miniconda3/bin/activate %s\n' % pyenv
         # sometimes activating an environment fails due to a FileExistsError
         # is this because it is activated at the same time on another node?
         # check twice if the environment got activated for real
@@ -396,6 +395,10 @@ def create_chunks_htc_pbs(cases, sort_by_values=['[Windspeed]'], ppn=20,
     except (FileExistsError, OSError):
         pass
 
+    fpath = os.path.join(df['[run_dir]'].iloc[0], 'pbs_out_chunks')
+    if not os.path.exists(fpath):
+        os.makedirs(fpath)
+
     df_iter = chunker(df, nr_procs_series*ppn)
     sim_id = df['[sim_id]'].iloc[0]
     run_dir = df['[run_dir]'].iloc[0]