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Facilities

We provide facilities for everything from small to full-scale testing in land-based, shipboard and marine operational facilities.

Facilities

The Switch Energy Test Center

The Switch, part of the Energy House, has 1,600 m2 of technology and infrastructure to put new components through their paces for use in the renewable energy and maritime sectors.

Here, companies can test the generation, storage, distribution and management of energy with equipment such as batteries, switchboards, transformers, frequency converters, motors and generators.

The facility is suitable for various types of energy testing, including comprehensive testing of fuel cells, energy conversion and new motor technology.

Energy House

In 2020, Sustainable Energy opened the world's first full-scale test center for new and green energy carriers.

The building has new facilities for testing high-voltage solutions, battery systems and hybrid systems, among others. The test center includes the ability to test energy generators for the energy sources of the future such as ammonia, hydrogen, LNG, biogas and synthetic fuels. Here, small and large companies can rent space and equipment to test both individual components and complete systems, and get help getting products to market faster.

Technical information can be found here.

Clara Venture Labs

In the energy lab, Prototech has test facilities for various small-scale gas solutions, such as hydrogen, oxygen, methane, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

State-of-the-art energy lab at Clara Venture Labs for among others fuel cell testing. For more information, see link here

HYNOR

HYNOR is IFE's test center for hydrogen in Kjeller. Here you can test new core technologies for hydrogen, for example in connection with water electrolysis or fuel cells.
Eksteriør av testbygning

IFE has had an internationally leading infrastructure and facilities in energy research and development for several years. HYNOR is at the heart of IFE’s hydrogen research with laboratories for blue and green hydrogen production, liquid hydrogen storage and test facilities for the use of PEM fuel cells.

Westcon’s battery and hydrogen lab

In 2020, Westcon Power & Automation opened Norway's third hybrid laboratory.

The facility provides opportunities for testing the next generation of hydrogen and hybrid systems for future marine and mobility projects and is equipped with a fully integrated test bed for energy systems – including batteries, fuel cells, frequency converters, switchgear and energy management systems.

Marine Energy Test Centre (METcentre)

METcentre provides licenses, infrastructure and services required to test offshore wind power.

Innovative energy companies flock to Karmøy to test their solutions, where METcentre provides services and infrastructure for testing offshore wind power. The floating offshore wind turbine “Zefyros”, formerly “Hywind Demo”, is the main test facility. Metcentre can also provide marine areas and a life buoy for testing other concepts in wind, solar and wave energy. The Spar buoy was used by Google’s Makani project, among others, when they tested their groundbreaking wind kite.

The floating offshore wind turbine Zefyros

Next to the METcentre test site on Karmøy is the Zefyros floating offshore wind turbine (formerly Hywind Demo), owned by the supplier Unitech. The offshore wind turbine can be used to test components and systems relevant to floating offshore wind concepts. Examples include scada systems, sensors, access systems, anchoring / mooring and more. The wind turbine is connected to the onshore power grid via a cable. Zefyros has built in the possibility to connect other power generators to this cable, avoiding expensive extra costs in the project. Such projects may involve testing energy systems with solar cells, micro wind turbines, wave power plants and underwater batteries, among others.

Unitechs subsea testgroup

At Stord, Unitech has a deep test pit for deep water testing of cables, connectors, wireless charging and underwater communications, among other things.

Hall of flames

In Haugesund, the University of Applied Sciences of Western Norway (HVL) has the "Hall of Flames" fire laboratory with facilities for comprehensive testing of fire protection and emissions from electrical power components.

MarinLab

MarinLab is the tank farm of the University of Applied Sciences of Western Norway on the campus in Bergen - a state-of-the-art laboratory for teaching, student projects and research in collaboration with industry.

MarinLab is mainly used for stability testing of vessels and resistance measurements in water. In recent years, the lab has also been increasingly used for motion testing. Cameras are used to test floating objects such as ships and renewable energy installations. In addition, the new trailer can be used to perform drag tests on tidal turbines, submarines, and heavy (asymmetric) structures such as fish farms and underwater platform structures.

MarinLab in a nutshell:

– The tank basin has a cross-section of 50 x 3 x 2.2 m.

– The laboratory is equipped with a fully automatic wave machine of Edinburgh Design and a trailer with a maximum speed of 5 m/s.

– Suitable model scale is typically 1:50 or 1:100.

Utsiera living lab

With Haugaland Kraft at the helm, several partners are working together to develop a new smart and autonomous energy system that will make the island community of Utsira off Haugesund emission-free.

The goal is to increase electricity and transmission capacity, improve readiness and energy efficiency, and increase electricity self-sufficiency for the island community through pilot projects that include smart energy management, microgrids, and energy flexibility. This vibrant test center offers Sustainable Energy’s customers a unique opportunity to test new energy sources and control systems for weak grids as part of a larger power system in a real-world environment. Utsira is also an excellent test platform for new smart community solutions.

Offshore vessels

The offshore company Solstad has provided several ships to test individual components or complete systems at sea.

Ferries and speedboats

Norled is ready to provide ferries and speedboats for testing components and larger systems.

Oil and natural gas tankers

If you have components or systems that you should have tested on board a larger tanker, our partner Knutsen OAS has several vessels available for your project.

Passenger ship

The training vessel M/S "Gann", the former Hurtigruten vessel M/S "Narvik", offers excellent testing opportunities for those who need to try out components or a system on board a passenger ship.

Egersund Energy Hub

The 8,400 m2 Energy and Innovation Center in Egersund will be a leading practice and collaboration arena for education, certification, entrepreneurship, business development, innovation, co-creation, research and development in offshore wind.

Matre’s Test and Training Center

Matre's purpose-built station for testing the company's product range is a very modern facility with top equipment and well-qualified operators, providing facilities that others can use for development work, calibration or performance testing of products.

Technical specifications

  • 100m 2
  • Crane capacity up to 10 h
  • Fully automatic flow and pressure adjustment
  • 000 liters per min water capacity, in loop
  • Pressure up to 13 bar
  • Specific software can be created on request

www.matre.no

Sintef Ocean’s Energy and Machinery Laboratory

The Energy and Machinery Laboratory is one of the best equipped independent engine laboratories in Scandinavia - consisting of well-developed facilities with highly specialized test equipment, measurement and data acquisition systems and an experienced staff.