The objective of this work is the development of harmonized efficiency test methods for combined renewable heating systems for houses, using a hardware-in-the-loop approach. An overview of the principles of the existing whole system test methods used by 3 research institutes involved in the project (MacSheep 2012) is given. Main objectives are realistic dynamic test sequence elaboration for solar and heat pump systems and comparison of results from tests achieved in different institutes. In order to reach these objectives, the first phase of the work aimed to harmonize the boundary conditions that comprise both the physical boundaries of the tested system as well as the climate and heat load definition, and this is presented in the first part of the article. The second part presents two methodologies to elaborate 12-days and 6-days whole system test sequences, validation results for solar and air source heat pump systems (SHP) and a methodology for achieving equal amount of space heat supplied by the tested system while at the same time providing a realistic response of the heat distribution system.