First U.S. wave energy test facility to be built off Oregon coast

The U.S. Department of Energy will provide $40 million in funding to build the United States’ first open-ocean, power grid-connected wave energy test facility off the Oregon coast.

A partnership made up of several renewable energy innovators and the University of Washington, Oregon State University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks applied for the federal funding earlier this year.

“This is great news for OSU and its partners and will launch a new level of local job creation and clean energy innovation,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said. “Oregon will use this opportunity to build on its solid position nationally and internationally as a leader in renewable wave energy.”

The clean, renewable energy found in the waves and tidal currents has the potential to deliver up to one-third of the nation’s electricity demand. The Newport-based site will be the first of its kind connected directly to the power grid of the United States.

Wyden,  along with U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Lisa Murkowski, (R-AK), Patty Murray (D-WA) and other lawmakers urged the Energy Department in an October letter to award the funding for the site. It will be located about six nautical miles off the coast of Newport, Oregon.

“Given the important role that current and wave energy innovation can play in Alaska’s energy future, it is great news that a consortium of universities, including the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has been awarded with this opportunity to test and develop marine hydrokinetic devices,” Murkowski said. “This should help advance renewable energy technologies that hold great promise for our coastal communities.”

The funding, in part, will enable the universities to build infrastructure such as open-water test berths and undersea cables. Private companies would have the ability to use the infrastructure to test their wave and tidal current energy innovations.