![]() ![]() Marine renewable energy technologies are still at relatively early stages of development. The ability to more quickly and cost-effectively test devices and demonstrate iterative design improvements will allow technology developers to more rapidly improve performance, drive down costs, and attract investment and financing for future projects. Improved environmental monitoring systems coupled with a 25-year Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) operating license will help expedite the testing process at reduced costs for technology developers. Transitioning wave energy technologies to full-scale commercialization requires both in-water tests of performance and efficiency and extended demonstrations of reliability, operations, and maintenance in an open-ocean, grid-connected operational site. The test site will provide a grid-connected platform for advanced testing of utility-scale wave energy converters in a high-energy, open-coast environment. These devices are part of a collective suite of marine renewable energy technologies that convert the energy of waves, tides, and river and ocean currents into electricity. Others include tidal and current energy converters as well as ocean thermal energy conversion technologies. WECs are one range of devices in the Energy Department’s research and development portfolio that generate energy from the ocean. Each berth will have a dedicated transmission cable and the site will be generally pre-permitted for a variety of WEC technologies. The test facility will be able to accommodate up to twenty wave energy converters (WEC)-devices that convert wave energy into electricity-in four separate test berths simultaneously. ![]() The Energy Department announced the selection of the OSU-led team to develop the facility in December 2016 and initial operation is expected to begin between 2021–2022 based on material procurement timelines. The site is currently being developed off the coast of Newport, Oregon, by faculty and staff in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) at Oregon State University (OSU). PacWave (formerly known as the Pacific Marine Energy Center South Energy Test Site) is an Energy Department-funded, grid-connected, full-scale test facility for wave energy conversion technologies-the first of its kind in the United States.
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