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Oregon State University building first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the US

Oregon State University (OSU) has executed the last major contract pieces to build a wave-energy test facility, PacWave South, paving the way for construction of the facility off the coast of Newport, Oregon.

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 authorised the procurement of more than 80 kilometres 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 finalised 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, in a statement.

“These are the last two major pieces of the project,” Hales said.

The ocean test site will be located on a sandy-bottomed stretch of the Pacific Ocean away from popular commercial and recreational fishing reefs about seven miles off the coast of Newport. The site will have four different test “berths,” which combined can accommodate up to 20 wave-energy devices at any time.

Power and data cables buried below the seafloor will connect the ocean test site to the shoreside facility in Seal Rock, south of Newport. Louisiana-based industrial electrical services contractor R.T. Casey is overseeing the procurement, construction and installation of the cable for PacWave. The cables will be manufactured in Norway by the Paris-based firm Nexans.

The cable manufacturing process is expected to begin soon and will take about a year. The goal is for the cables to arrive in the Pacific Northwest in the spring of 2024 for installation in the summer of 2024, said Hales.

Once installed, the subsea cables will come ashore at the Driftwood Beach State Recreation Site, where they will connect to terrestrial cables in an underground vault.

In 2022, crews completed the installation of underground conduits that will house the subsea and terrestrial cables that will carry wave-generated energy from the devices to the shoreside facility.

At the shoreside facility, the wave-generated power can be connected to the local power grid. PacWave South’s connection to the power grid will provide wave-energy developers with the ability to test the efficacy of their devices as well as mechanisms for turning the energy they capture into a commodity with value on the energy market.

Based on current timelines, PacWave could be operational in 2025. The US Department of Energy has already identified and provided funding to a slate of wave-energy developers who will begin testing their devices once the PacWave facility is completed.

Kim Biggar

Kim Biggar started writing in the supply chain sector in 2000, when she joined the Canadian Association of Supply Chain & Logistics Management. In 2004/2005, she was project manager for the Government of Canada-funded Canadian Logistics Skills Committee, which led to her 13-year role as communications manager of the Canadian Supply Chain Sector Council. A longtime freelance writer, Kim has contributed to publications including The Forwarder, 3PL Americas, The Shipper Advocate and Supply Chain Canada.
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