please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message national renewable energy centre type not for profit industry renewable energy energy efficiency founded 2002 founder one north east headquarters blyth uk key people andrew jamieson ceo services testing certification demonstration website https ore.catapult.org.uk home narec since 2014 known as the national renewable energy centre is a part of the offshore renewable energy ore catapult a uk technology innovation and research centre for offshore wind power wave energy tidal energy and low carbon technologies . the centre operates multi purpose offshore renewable energy test and demonstration facilities . 1 it is very similar to other centres such as nrel in the us 2 and national centre for renewable energies cener in spain . the national renewable energy centre is based in blyth northumberland . contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 wind turbine rotor blades 2.2 power trains and components 2.3 electrical networks 2.4 subsea trials and demonstrations 2.5 resource measurement and assessment 3 closed facilities 3.1 clothier high voltage laboratory 4 current facilities 4.1 charles parsons technology centre 4.2 training tower 4.3 dry docks 4.4 power train test facilities 3mw and 15mw 4.5 blade test 1 & 2 5 european funded research 6 conferences and papers 7 references 8 external links history edit originally known as narec new and renewable energy centre the centre was created in 2002 by one northeast the north east regional development agency as part of the strategy for success programme . 3 in 2010 the organisation changed its name to narec national renewable energy centre . 4 in april 2014 the organisation merged with the offshore renewable energy ore catapult to focus on the development and cost reduction of offshore wind wave and tidal energy across the uk . 5 6 the organisation was originally involved in a wide range of technologies including wind onshore and offshore transmission and distribution photovoltaics oil and gas marine renewables fuel cells microrenewables biomass 7 in 2010 due to uk government cutbacks narec closed sold off or separated different parts of the business . now narec itself concentrates on testing blades and drive trains for marine renewables . spin off companies include narec distributed energy an organisation which deals with microrenewables energy efficiency low carbon transport and city wide energy planning . 8 narec distributed energy is 100 % owned by narec . narec solar 8 % owned by narec and 92 % owned by the swedish firm absolicon . this organisation is focused on silicon photovoltaic cells 9 10 11 narec capital a financial organisation run by narec and ashberg limited . 12 narec capital risk solutions beyond its existence there is very little information on what this organisation does . 9 following its merger with ore catapult the national renewable energy centre now focuses on helping to de risk and accelerate the development and commercialisation of the offshore renewable energy industry in the uk . operations edit the national renewable energy centre is involved in wind turbine rotor blades edit product certification verification and investigations for the next generation offshore wind turbines . 13 14 15 16 power trains and components edit 3mw and 15mw facilities that can perform independent performance and reliability assessments of full systems and components . 17 18 electrical networks edit ukas accredited laboratories with specialist test and measurement facilities to help develop technologies needed for developing power systems and exploring life extension opportunities for ageing assets . 19 subsea trials and demonstrations edit controlled onshore salt water location for all stages of technology development . 20 resource measurement and assessment edit open access facility for testing calibrating and verifying remote sensor technologies 21 closed facilities edit clothier high voltage laboratory edit the clothier electrical testing laboratory was opened in 1970 by a. reyrolle & company . narec took over the facility in 2004 . the reason it was of interest to the renewable energy organisation was to use it to test the robustness of electrical infrastructure offshore locations to onshore sites as well as to big load centres in the centre of the uk . 22 although one of the only high voltage testing facilities in the world and completely unique in the uk the facility was closed by narec in 2011 due to a lack of government funding . 23 many parts of the lab were relocated to narec s main campus in blyth . the ruins of the original lab are now the property of siemens . 24 current facilities edit charles parsons technology centre edit built in 2004 this 5m facility contains a low voltage electrical laboratory for the testing of connecting renewable energy systems to the transmission and distribution grid . 25 some of the equipment and staff from the closed narec clothier electrical testing laboratory were moved to this facility 26 training tower edit this is a 27m high tower for training of offshore wind technicians . 27 dry docks edit tests marine devices with three modified dry docks . 28 power train test facilities 3mw and 15mw edit facilities that can perform independent performance and reliability assessments of full systems and components . 18 blade test 1 & 2 edit the blade testing facilities at national renewable energy centre are designed to test wind turbine blades up to 100m in length . blades are tested using a compact resonant mass crm system . ore catapult is working on a technique of blade testing known as dual axis . 29 30 european funded research edit ore catapult is involved in a number of european funded research projects including tidal ec optimus lifes50 31 conferences and papers edit narec staff have written papers which have appeared in journals and international energy conferences . these are mainly in the subjects of photovoltaics wind marine and electrical infrastructure . a short list of some of these is given below snapper an efficient and compact direct electric power take off device for wave energy converters . 32 availability and estimation of marine renewable energy resources 33 marine renewables a development route map for the uk 34 bivariate empirical mode decomposition and its contribution to wind turbine condition monitoring 35 experimental tests of an air cored pm tubular generator for direct drive wave energy converters 36 fatigue testing of wind turbine blades with computational verification . 37 ensuring reliability for offshore wind large testing facilities . 38 accelerating technology development for round 3 offshore deployment . 39 electrical network testing & simulation an effective method of testing the fault ride through capabilities of small scale distributed generation 40 ensuring reliability for marine renewable drive train systems nautilus testing facilities 41 lgbc silicon solar cell with modified bus bar suitable for high volume wire bonding 42 process and device modelling for enhancement of silicon solar cell efficiency 43 an intelligent approach to the condition monitoring of large scale wind turbines 44 lightning arresters and substation protection 45 study on laser parameters for silicon solar cells with lcp selective emitters 46 low cost 100x point focus silicon concentrator cells made by the lgbc process 47 laser grooved buried contact concentrator solar cells 48 studying the groove profiles produced for fine line screen printed front contacts in laser grooved buried contact solar cells . 49 investigation of cross wafer uniformity of production line produced lgbc concentrator solar cells 50 process development of coloured lgbc solar cells for bipv applications 48 process optimisation for coloured laser grooved buried contact solar cells 51 colour and shape in laser grooved buried contact solar cells for applications in the built environment 52 fine line screen printing in large area laser grooved buried contact silicon solar cells 53 progress of the lab2line laser grooved buried contact screen printed solar cells hybrid p type monocrystalline process 54 development of laser fired contact lfc rear passivated laser groove buried contact lgbc solar cells using thin wafers 55 the lab2line laser grooved buried contact screen printed solar cells hybrid p type monocrystaline process 56 integrated process and device tcad for enhancement of c si solar cell efficiency 57 screen printing in laser grooved buried contact solar cells the lab2line hybrid processes 58 surface passivation by silicon nitride in laser grooved buried contact lgbc silicon solar cells 59 optimisation of the front contact for low to medium concentrations in lgbc silicon solar cells 60 laser grooved buried contact solar cells for concentration factors up to 100x 61 device design and process optimisation for lgbc solar cells for use between 50x and 100x concentration 62 design and optimisation of laser grooved buried contact solar cells for use at concentration factors up to 100x 63 development of laser grooved buried contact solar cells for use at concentration factors up to 100x 64 front contact modelling of monocrystaline silicon laser grooved buried contact solar cells 65 laser grooved buried contact concentrator cells 66 pc1d modelling of the efficiency of laser grooved buried contact solar cells designed for use at concentration factors up to 100x 67 front dicing technique for pre isolation of concentrator silicon solar cells 68 environmental sustainability of concentrator pv systems preliminary lca results of the apollon project 69 process development of shape and colour in lgbc solar cells for bipv applications 70 a summary of the havemor project process development of shaped and coloured solar cells for bipv applications 71 process and device modelling for enhancement of silicon solar cell efficiency 72 technological and financial aspects of laser grooved buried contact silicon solar cell based concentrator systems 73 first results on the apollon project multi approach for high efficiency integrated and intelligent concentrating pv modules systems 74 references edit test & demonstration assets catapult . ore.catapult.org.uk . retrieved 2015 12 08 . http www.narec.co.uk http www.strategyforsuccess.info page news article.cfm articleid 1400 offshore renewable energy catapult . companiesintheuk . ore catapult and narec merge . renews renewable energy news . retrieved 2015 12 08 . narec to merge with glasgow s offshore renewable energy catapult . journallive . retrieved 2015 12 08 . welcome to narec . narec.co.uk . archived from the original on 16 february 2008 . narec distributed energy national renewable energy centre group . narec distributed energy . a b failure page . companieshouse.gov.uk . solar capture technologies home solar capture technologies . solar capture technologies . narec solar spun out . absolicon.com . journallive administrator 4 july 2011 . narec capital looking to raise 300m of funding . journallive . north american windpower eti invests in narec offshore wind test facility . nawindpower.com . http www.onenortheast.com page news article.cfm articleid 4863 narec reveals plans for giant turbine blade testing facility . businessgreen.com . http www.wig.co.uk narec construction begins on the world s largest wind turbine drive train test facility . eti . retrieved 2015 12 08 . a b samsung to test 7mw offshore turbine at uk s new narec facility renewable energy focus . www.renewableenergyfocus.com . retrieved 2015 12 08 . catapult lab raises hv ceiling . renews renewable energy news . retrieved 2015 12 08 . uk tekmar demonstrates its cable protection systems at ore catapult . subsea world news . retrieved 2015 12 08 . axys to deploy windsentinel at uk s ore catapult . www.rechargenews.com . retrieved 2015 12 08 . http www.nebusiness.co.uk business news latest business news 2010 05 13 narec in advanced talks on wind turbine tests 51140 26434889 2 plug could be pulled on testing lab . shieldsgazette.com . urban explorers highlight the decay of the highest voltage lab in the world . newstatesman.com . onenortheast.co.uk . onenortheast.co.uk . http www.narec.co.uk electrical networks info elsevier ltd the boulevard langford lane kidlington oxford ox5 1gb united kingdom . narec s wind turbine training tower ready for use . renewableenergyfocus.com . cs1 maint multiple names authors list link new boss takes over at narec . newspostleader.co.uk . conference programme ewea 2015 event . www.ewea.org .