Later this month, crews will begin installing the power and data cables that are essential to completing construction of a new wave energy testing facility off the Oregon Coast.
The cables will support Oregon State University’s PacWave South, the first pre-permitted, utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States. When the facility is completed, wave energy developers will be able to test different technologies for harnessing the power of ocean waves and transmitting that energy to the local electrical grid.
Huge challenge
“Transmitting power from wave-energy generators to shore in a form compatible with the regional power grid is a huge challenge, and cabled connection from PacWave South provides the capability to test power-delivery technologies,” said Burke Hales, PacWave’s chief scientist and a professor in the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. “These cables are highly specialized and their installation and burial is a keystone of wave energy development in the U.S.”