Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research

NTNU and SINTEF are key players in six of the eight new national centres for environmentally friendly energy that were created by the Research Council of Norway in early February.

NOrway -- Wind energy

The Norwegian government has committed as much as NOK 1 billion for the centres over the next eight years, with another NOK 1 billion from industry, in accordance with both the national R&D strategy for energy, Energi21, and a broad-based political agreement on climate reached by the Storting in February 2008. SINTEF and NTNU are the host institutions for four of the eight centres, and are partners in two others.

The following new centres include NTNU and SINTEF as leaders or partners:

  • Research Centre for Offshore Wind Technology.
    Host organization: SINTEF Energy Research
    Centre leader: John Olav G Tande
  • BIGCCS Centre - International CCS Research Centre
    Host organization: SINTEF Energy Research
    Centre leader: Nils A. Røkke
  • CEDREN – Centre for Environmental Design of Renewable Energy
    Host organization: SINTEF Energy Research
    Centre leader:Atle Harby
  • CenBio – Bioenergy Innovation Centre
    Host organization:University of Life Sciences - UMB
    Centre leader: Lars Sørum
  • The Norwegian Research Centre for Solar Cell Technology
    Host organization: IFE
    Centre leader: Erik Stensrud Marstein

Cooperative between industry and research
NTNU rektor Torbjørn Digernes and SINTEF president and CEO Unni Steinsmo are pleased that the national research effort on renewable energy will be undertaken in centres where research and industry work together on common problems. Each centre consists of several research institutions and industrial enterprises, with the potential to add more partners over time.

The two leaders believe that Norway should invest in technologies where the country already has strong expertise. The model created by the government takes this approach, the two said.

Important global contributions
“The development of this technology is one of most important contributions that Norway can make to the world on climate issues”, Steinsmo and Digernes add.

“The new centres will be very important in Norway's international climate efforts. The Trondheim research community is already collaborating extensively on climate research with leading groups in Europe, USA and China /Japan. We will now build on this and develop both the technology and awareness of what will be needed for an energy revolution.”

This goal will be achieved through three main strategies:

  • A sharp increase in the production of electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass.
  • The capture and storage of CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
  • More efficient end use of energy (energy efficiency).