The paper presents an on-going activity for the development of a joint laboratory between University of Genova and ABB for training and research within the context of the shipboard power systems. In particular the laboratory has been installed for training courses to satisfy the HV requirements laid out in the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW), Manila Amendments. It has been approved by the Italian Minister of Transportation, decree 15th February 2016 (16A01447). The course defines the mandatory knowledge and training to meet the competence for management of marine High Voltage electrical installations, for engine officers designed to work on vessels equipped with High Voltage devices (>1000V) and Electro Technical Officers (ETO), as per sections A-III/2, AIII/3 e A-III/6 of STCW code. Further, the laboratory and the research activities have been developed towards two main directions. The first aspect is related to the development of Microgrid models in a dedicated platform (OPAL-RT) for Hardware-in-The-Loop (HIL) testing of LV breakers and PMS (Power management system) applications. The second objective is the development of a real small-scale shipboard power system with two emulated gensets rated 7 kVA and different AC drives and loads for training purpose and validation of controllers.