The Federal energy regulators on Monday gave Oregon State University (OSU) the wave energy testing facility off the coast of the state.
With abundance of natural lakes, and forests, Oregon is considered to have a high potential for wave energy generation – much higher by coastal area than Washington or California. The PacWave project is set to speed up the development of wave energy, which is supposed to harness the motion of the ocean to generate electricity. The Oregon Department of Energy says this project will have the potential to power 28 million homes annually.
PacWave South is ready to locate 7 miles offshore in federal waters measuring 70 to 75 meters deep in the coming month, as Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has allowed Oregon State University (OSU) a license to build a test facility at the site.
The Chief Scientist of the PacWave project, Burke Hales said, “It’s huge. It’s the first license of its type to be issued in the United States. We hope to be moving this summer with groundbreaking for building our shoreside facility.”
The goal is to install the offshore components of the test by 2022. In the years ahead, marine-based sources of energy will have an important role to play in the U.S and the rest of the world.
The project has already received a go from two coastal zone approvals. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management awarded Oregon State University a federal tenancy to function the project in mid-February.