Add as a preferred source on Google

Oregon State University to Move Forward with Wave Energy Project

  • By Matt Jones
  • 03/04/21

On Monday, March 1, federal energy regulators gave Oregon State University permission to move forward with an offshore wave energy testing facility.

The PacWave South project is meant to further the development of wave energy technology, which uses the motion of water and currents to produce electricity. Waves off the coast of Oregon have been discovered to have a much higher wave energy generation potential than nearby California or Washington, at least by coastal area. The Oregon Department of Energy estimates that the near-shore waves could eventually be able to generate power for 28 million homes every year.

Wave energy testing facility

The university project must pass a final review period before it can begin construction, but it has already received a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “It’s huge,” said Burke Hales, the OSU project’s chief scientist. “It’s the first license of its type to be issued in the United States.”

According to the project’s website, PacWave South will be a wave energy test facility that is grid-connected, accredited, and pre-permitted. Because the entire regulatory process is being done before construction starts, it will be ready to test all expected types of wave energy devices, save millions of dollars, and allow development and optimization of those designs to move more quickly.

The construction will cover two square nautical miles of ocean and include four ocean berths connected to shore by a 7-mile cable route. Infrastructure will include data cables, electric cables, and a grid connection station on land, giving companies easy and immediate access to the wave energy converters. Across its four berths, it will be able to test different technologies simultaneously, and it has space for up to 20 devices.

Oregon State University is developing the project with the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Oregon, and local stakeholders.

“We hope to be moving forward this summer with groundbreaking for building our shoreside facility,” said Hales. He also said that the underground and sub-surface work for running transmission lines should begin this year, also. They aim to begin installing the test facility’s offshore components in 2022.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • KI Launches K–12 Classroom Furniture Giveaway

    Contract furniture company KI recently announced the launch of its fourth-annual Classroom Furniture Giveaway, which awards $50,000 each to four K–12 educators across the U.S., according to a news release. The goal is to address decreasing student engagement and increasing teacher burnout numbers by updating learning spaces to accommodate modern needs.

  • Malibu High School Campus Completes $102M Phase 1 of Construction

    Malibu High School in Malibu, Calif., recently announced that it has completed phase 1 of construction for its new campus, a news release reports. The first phase consisted of developing and modernizing the site of a former elementary school into a new, 70,000-square-foot, two-story facility.

  • LSU Breaks Ground on $200M Residential Project

    Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., recently broke ground on a new residential complex, according to university news. The South Quad residential project will consist of two buildings and add a total of 1,266 beds for freshmen students. The development comes with a price tag of $200 million, and it’s scheduled to open to students in fall 2027.

  • UNL Kiewit Hall

    Designing for Engineering Excellence: Integrating Sustainability and Wellness at UNLs Kiewit Hall

    Kiewit Hall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln exemplifies how academic institutions can integrate sustainability and wellness into modern learning environments. With an integrated and collaborative team approach, Kiewit Hall addresses enhanced learning and creativity, physical health, and mental wellness, and fosters a sense of community through innovative design, operations, and policy solutions.

Digital Edition