In less then a decade, the hybrid and electric marine industry has grown from a single ship to over 50 large industrial hybrid and fully electric ships. The battery revolution is hitting the maritime industry at a rapid pace with Norway emerging as a leader, the country is setting targets for 50 electrical ferries in operation by 2021. A cluster of marine innovation, Trondheim has become the centre for marine electrification, the city holds some of Northern Europe’s most prominent research institutions, as well as marine suppliers and integrators alike setting up shop and working together towards an industrial evolution of clean energy. Forbes Magazine recently published an article Trondheim Rises as Norway’s Sleeping Tech Giant Awakens, praising the city for its leadership and growth as a European tech cluster.
Like many cities in the world, it has designs on becoming a tech hub and rivalling the likes of local competitor Stockholm and the allegedly more developed clusters of London, Berlin and Paris. Its poaching of the Starmus conference from Tenerife (with an option for the next two years) is a station on the way to that Nirvana, a sign that it means business. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) a catalyst for the revolution that the city has planned. With more than 38,000 students and 6,700 people employed in R&D, the campus works with SINTEF, the largest independent research organisation to create the bedrock for the emerging tech hub. – Monty Munford, Forbes
PBES is proud to be part of the Trondheim tech hub, as the marine industry leading supplier of safe, high power energy storage systems, we are seeing the rapid up-take of the technology and subsequently have been quick to expand our Trondheim factory. Since the introduction of manufacturing in Norway in November 2016, we have delivered over 10MWh of batteries, delivered the first 4.2MWh ferry system in Denmark which is the largest marine battery ever made, and gone from 4 to 40 employees with plans for an additional 30 people this year. PBES is proud to be located in this center of this prosperous maritime technology environment and contribute to, and benefit from, the knowledge, and technical expertise of the area.
To read the full Forbes article click here.