The last major pieces of the contract to build the wave energy test facility PacWave South have been executed, paving the way for the completion of the Oregon State University-led facility off the coast of Newport.
PacWave South will be the first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States. The facility will offer wave energy developers the opportunity to try different technologies for harnessing the power of ocean waves and transmitting that energy to the local electrical grid.
PacWave project leaders recently authorized the procurement of more than 80 kilometers of cable that will deliver wave-generated energy to a shoreside facility where it can be fed to the local electrical grid. They also just finalized the contract for construction of the shoreside facility, said Burke Hales, PacWave’s chief scientist and a professor in the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
Read more at: Oregon State University
View of Driftwood Beach, where crews installed cable conduit that will house power and data cables that connect wave energy devices to a shore-based facility. (Photo Credit: Michelle Klampe, Oregon State University)