The Norwegian Research School in Renewable Energy (NorRen) unites the PhD education within renewable energy at five of the Norwegian universities; NTNU, UiB, UiO, NMBU UiT and UiA.
Since 2015 UiO Energy has been responsible for organizing and running the NorRen summer school.
NTNU
NTNU has a strong research portfolio within renewable energy and energy efficiency, and hosts two of the eleven Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME); CenSES and ZEB. NTNU is also a partner in the FMEs CEDREN, NOWITECH, Solar United and CenBio. The research at NTNU includes new technology for solar cells, wind power, bioenergy, geothermal energy, wave power, hydropower, osmotic power, energy efficiency in buildings and integration of power production from renewable sources in smart grids. The societal aspects of renewable energy technologies is also an important research area at NTNU, in particular via CenSES. Through CEDREN, NTNU is studying the environmental consequences of renewable energy implementation and investigating how to minimize this impact.
UMB
Renewable energy research at UMB includes both technical, biological, economic and environmental aspects. UMB hosts CenBio – one of eleven Centres for Environment Friendly energy – focusing on sustainable and cost-effective production of bioenergy. Bioenergy research includes economic analysis of bioenergy in the current and future energy system, ecological impacts of energy production and transportation, and biomass properties. In addition, UMB has particular focus on biochemical conversion of biomass and participates in a large number of projects on bioprocess development. UMB also has an increasing research activity related to energy systems analysis, market design and analysis, and policy analysis within the renewable energy sector.
UiT
UiT has a small, but increasing research portfolio within renewable energy. The research at UiT includes new technology for solar cells, wind power, bioenergy, and geothermal energy. Research projects have been initiated throughout the university institutes located within existing activities, but recently a specific group has been created at the Department of Physics and Technology (DoPT) with a focus on renewable energy. The research activity is building upon statistical processing, mathematical modelling and numerical simulations, and covers optimization of energy productions for wind turbines and mapping and characterization of geothermal resources. In addition, there is activity on fusion plasma physics, including theoretical modelling, numerical simulations and analysis of experimental data. Integration of power production from renewable sources in smart grids is an important part of the collaboration with Narvik University College, and together we are currently working to establish a renewable energy lab to test out existing and new technologies in a local municipality.
UiB
Renewable energy research at UiB has increased considerably in recent years, notably in offshore wind through the FME NORCOWE and in geothermal energy leading a national initiative together with Christian Michelsen Research (CMR). Positioning itself as a leading marine university in Europe, UiB is also involved in various forms of marine renewable energy including tidal, wave and biomass. Based on UiBs recognized achievements in climate research and the institutional profile in global studies, cross-faculty initiatives in climate and energy research are being developed utilizing capabilities in economy, geography including system dynamics and other disciplines from social and human sciences. UiBs energy master program, profiling renewable energy and energy technology, is executed in collaboration with Bergen University College.
UiO
The energy research at the University of Oslo spans the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, technology and law. Further, the research primarily falls into four broad categories: governance, smart cities, energy and material science and energy systems including energy informatics. The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences constitute the greatest number of researchers, many of whom are affiliated with The Centre for material science and nanotechnology. Vital energy research takes place at the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture and The Centre for development and the environment. Finally, the University of Oslo is involved in the centres for environment-friendly energy research (FME).