A commissioning engineer internship online teaches FAT and SAT side by side. A factory acceptance test (FAT) proves the equipment works before it leaves the supplier; a site acceptance test (SAT) proves it still works once installed. You practise both in browser labs, safety first, with the first 4 weeks free.
One fact about our own programme, so you can judge everything here fairly. The EDWartens internships are training, not employment. The first 4 weeks are free, with no fee to join, and finishing them earns a free certificate of completion with a QR code anyone can scan to verify it. Continuing past week 4 is paid, and so is the graded Internship Certificate (included from 24 weeks); prices are shown in your own currency before you pay. There is no stipend, and we do not promise a job, an interview or a placement.
What is the difference between FAT and SAT?
Think of buying a custom machine. Before it is crated, the buyer's team and the supplier run it in the supplier's workshop against an agreed list of tests. That is the FAT. If something fails, it is cheaper to fix there than on a customer's floor. After the machine is moved, installed and connected, the team runs the agreed tests again, this time with the real plant around it. That is the SAT.
The list of checks is not the same at each end. A FAT can prove the panel, the program and the drawings, but not the field wiring or the real process. A SAT adds the things that only exist on site: the real sensors, the real motors, the interlocks with the neighbouring plant, and the operators who will use it. In our course, you meet a FAT in week 8 of the panel work and a SAT in week 8 of the commissioning course, so you can compare them directly.
What does a commissioning engineer internship teach, week by week?
The weeks run in the order a site team works. Week 1 is commissioning, safely: what commissioning is, the work order and its documents, permits and lockout, live-dead-live, and recording as you go. Week 2 is checks before power: look before you touch, terminations and torque, protective earth continuity, continuity wire by wire, insulation resistance tests, and first power-up.
Week 3 covers I/O and loop checks: the I/O list, testing digital inputs and outputs safely, checking a 4-20 mA loop, scaling errors and live zero, and recording the loop sheet. Week 4 covers motors and drives: nameplate, direction of rotation, setting the overload, first drive set-up, testing safe torque off and the E-STOP chain. Those four weeks are the free part.
Weeks 5 to 8 are paid. They cover fault-finding, maintenance strategies, condition monitoring (thermography, vibration, insulation trending), then functional testing, the SAT and handover: cause and effect testing, interlock and alarm tests, the punch list, the SAT with the client, and a packing cell capstone.
Why does safety come first?
Because the cheapest mistake in commissioning is the one that never happens, and the most expensive is the one that hurts someone. The first lab practical asks you to isolate a motor bucket: stop, open, lock, tag, prove the tester, test dead and prove again. That habit is described in HSE's guidance on safe working practices for electricity at work, HSG85 (page read 18 October 2026).
Later checks follow the same logic: look, then measure dead, then power up in steps (supply, then control, then the pump) and stop at the first surprise. A good commissioning record shows what you checked, what you found and what you changed, one thing at a time. That record is the part employers can read, so the course trains you to write it as you go.
Which labs do you use?
The Panel Lab covers starters, drives, sensors and the factory acceptance test. The Process lab covers loops, calibration and the site acceptance test. The Substation and MCC lab covers isolation, star-delta commissioning and fault-finding on motor buckets. The Robotics lab has a safety validation level where you test a gate, a light curtain and both E-stops one at a time.
The companies and plants in the briefs are fictional, and the colleagues are simulated and labelled so. You are not given real site data. For the standards side, ISA publishes standards for instrumentation and automation (page read 18 October 2026); the course teaches the practice, not the text of any standard.
What can you show afterwards?
A set of completed practicals, a commissioning mindset you can describe in an interview, and the free certificate of completion for weeks 1 to 4. Do not call it site experience. Call it commissioning training with named practicals. For background reading, see our post on how to become a commissioning engineer, and our free course on instrument calibration, loop checks and commissioning.
Internship at a glance: the facts in one table
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Free part | The first 4 weeks: all lessons, the weekly checks and the short final quiz. No fee to join |
| Certificate | Weeks 1 to 4 earn the free certificate of completion, verifiable by QR code, with no grade on it. The graded Internship Certificate is paid and included from 24 weeks |
| Labs | Panel Lab, Process lab, Substation and MCC lab, and Robotics lab |
| Software | Panel Lab and a spreadsheet. Nothing to buy |
| Lengths | From 4 weeks (the free part) up to 24 months. Longer lengths are paid and shown in your currency before you pay |
| Time | Each lesson takes a few minutes. Nothing is timed, and practice never blocks a lesson, a week or the free certificate |
| What it is not | Not employment. No stipend. No promise of a job, an interview or a placement |
What do you do each day?
A remote internship day here is five small steps. Nothing is timed.
- Check in. Say hello to the simulated team and see what is planned for today. The colleagues are simulated and labelled as such.
- Learn. Read a few short lessons on safe isolation, checks before power and loop checks. Each lesson takes a few minutes.
- Today's practice. Answer a few quick questions on what you read, with the reason shown after each one.
- Lab practical. Open the Panel Lab and work through a commissioning checklist on simulated plant.
- End-of-day update. Write two lines on what you did and what is next.
Which three lab practicals will you do?
Three of the practicals, by name. Each opens in a browser lab, and each is optional practice that never holds you back.
- Safe isolation of an MCC bucket (Substation and MCC lab, week 2)
- Loop check the level transmitter LT-102 (Process lab, week 3)
- Commission a star-delta starter (Substation and MCC lab, week 4)
Where to go next
Open the track page for the full list of labs, then compare it with the other engineering internships.
- Commissioning internship: the full track page, with labs and questions.
- Free setup guide: the Panel Lab: open the lab in your browser, nothing to install.
- Free engineering internships: every engineering track side by side.
- Plan and extras: pick a start date and a length, with prices in your currency.
- Free course on PLC electrical troubleshooting: fault-finding practice to pair with it.
Last reviewed 18 Oct 2026.
Practise with us
Internship
Instrumentation and Process Control
First 4 weeks free. Weekly briefs, a work record and documents you can verify if you choose.
See the internshipRoles
Instrumentation
Roles that ask for this skill, 66 open in this country now. Free to see and to apply. We are not a recruitment agency.
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Questions
What is the difference between FAT and SAT?
A factory acceptance test (FAT) checks the equipment before it leaves the supplier; a site acceptance test (SAT) checks it once installed on site. You practise a FAT in the Panel Lab and a site acceptance test in the Process lab, so you see the same idea at both ends of the project.
Can you learn commissioning without being on site?
You can learn the method. The internship teaches safe commissioning with permits, lockout and live-dead-live testing, checks before power, I/O and loop checks, and handover, practised in browser labs. It does not replace real site time, and you should describe it as training.
How do I start commissioning as a fresher?
You do not need to have commissioned anything. Basic electrical knowledge is enough, and you learn safety first, then the checks in the order a site team does them. Pick any start date; the first 4 weeks are free.
What will I actually do in a commissioning internship?
You isolate and test a motor control bucket, commission a pump starter and a star-delta starter, loop check a level transmitter, and work on a breakdown and a site acceptance test, using the Panel Lab, the Process lab and the Substation and MCC lab.
Is the commissioning internship paid or free?
The first 4 weeks are free and earn a free certificate of completion. Continuing past week 4 is paid. It is training, not employment, so there is no stipend and no job is promised.
Sources
- HSE, Electricity at work: safe working practices, HSG85 (read 18 October 2026)
- ISA, standards for instrumentation and automation (read 18 October 2026)
- NACE, what makes a good internship (read 18 October 2026)
Written by the EDWartens engineering team for general education. Product names are trademarks of their owners; mentioning them does not imply endorsement. Prices and terms of other providers were checked on the date shown and can change.
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