The energy testing ground of EnTranCe | Centre of Expertise Energy is the place where entrepreneurs, authorities, researchers, students and lecturers further develop their ideas, enabling them to arrive at working solutions. By shortening the route from prototype to successful market launch we are speeding up the energy transition as well as creating (international) opportunities for businesses in our region.
Test facilities, knowledge and contacts
Everyone who wants to test a product, service or process in a controlled, realistic environment can make use of our energy testing ground. From start-ups with a new energy service or companies with a product prototype to (international) consortia seeking to change the energy system. We offer state-of-the-art test facilities and technical support. At EnTranCe, knowledge about innovation and product development as well as about the social, legal, economic and societal aspects of the energy transition is always within reach. Our testing ground gives access to a large energy ecosystem with relevant partners that include energy companies, network administrators, governmental authorities and leading knowledge institutes in the Netherlands and abroad.
Experiments at the EnTranCe testing ground
A wide variety of experiments take place at our energy testing ground: experiments to create biofuel from plastic, for example, or to fly on LNG. Others have investigated opportunities for balancing the supply and demand of renewable energy in a closed network, or have looked at what happens if you get 200 smart energy management systems to cooperate. In our solar energy test facility the ideal setup was determined for the solar panels on the roof of the Energy Academy, the most energy-efficient education building of the Netherlands.
Carry out your own experiments
Would you like to test a product, service or process that will help move energy transition forward? At our EnTranCe energy testing ground you can connect your own test setup to our infrastructure for data, electricity, natural gas, heat and hydrogen. Or you can do your research in one of the many existing test facilities.
A selection of our setups:
TNO HESI lab
TNO has a Hybrid System Integration facility, or HESI for short, at our testing ground. Here entrepreneurs can connect their product or service to electricity, heat, gas, water and advanced ICT infrastructure and test it. There is a setup for connecting 200 intelligent energy management systems, each representing a household or a company. This allows us to study the interaction between smart energy systems in a safe and controlled environment.
HEAT House
A well-insulated, newly built house with underfloor heating, a 1970s apartment or a monumental villa with high ceilings and single glazed windows: we are able to simulate all of these in the Heating Equipment & Appliance Testing House, HEAT House for short. For example, we test various heat technologies and types of equipment, but also insulation material and architectural structures.
Test setup for solar panels
In our test setup for solar panels we test solar panels or their components in real weather conditions and a range of different compositions. This is where the optimal installation of the panels on the roof of the Energy Academy (the most energy-efficient education building of the Netherlands) was tested. The test results are also fed back into the website Energieopwek.nl in order to improve predictions about the amount of solar energy we generate in the Netherlands.
Energy Expo | Sustainable Mobility
Whoever wants to test concepts for sustainable mobility can use the Energy Expo | Sustainable Mobility testing facility on our testing ground. Energy Expo is an independent platform of companies, authorities and knowledge institutes. Together with partners, the platform Energy Expo acquires and generates expertise in the field of sustainable mobility and makes sure that this expertise is widely available.
Hydrogen
At EnTranCe there are an increasing number of setups for experiments using hydrogen. Hydrogen can be used for the temporary storage of surpluses of renewable energy, as fuel for mobility and as raw material in industries. The required systems can be tested on our testing grounds. Think of systems as electrolysis machines for producing hydrogen, fuel cells for converting the hydrogen back into electricity and their performance in the energy system. In the near future we will develop a hydrogen booster project in order to test more hydrogen applications.
SAMEEN
SAMEEN is a student cooperation, which offers part-time jobs to talented students with a distinct interest in the field of energy. Within these part-time jobs, the students work on energy-related assignments, projects and research for organizations within and outside the energy sector. During the assignment, the student(s) receive support from the multidisciplinary management team of SAMEEN. All the knowledge gained by SAMEEN is gathered in the SAMEEN knowledge database.
Energie VanOns
Energie VanOns supplies 100% local, green electricity. But it is more than an energy company. Many different energy cooperatives are the owners of the company. Energie VanOns is the pivot between them and thousands of private and business customers. By combining the forces of local energy cooperatives, the company ensures that we can all produce and use our own local renewable energy. The energy of the future is local and green.
