United States – To test wave energy technologies at Oregon State University’s PacWave South facility, the Department of Energy has awarded $25 million in grants to eight organizations.
The approximately $80 million facility, which will be located about seven miles offshore, is scheduled to begin construction in June 2021. A new wave energy test site will open in the United States when PacWave South is completed. Grid-connected testing is expected to begin in 2024, and the facility should be operational in 2023.
An agreement was signed by both the Department of Energy and Oregon State to build the PacWave South facility in 2016 to study how to harness the carbon-free wave energy generated by wind blowing over the sea surface. The DOE has prepermitted PacWave South to help with the difficulties of testing new technologies in open ocean.
Funding recipients
The funded projects will focus on wave energy converter designs that can be used in remote areas or on small grids; designs that can be connected to or disconnected from the grid; and research and development related to environmental monitoring, instrumentation systems that operators use to control wave energy converters, and other technologies.
Funding recipients include Portland State University (PSU), which received a $4.5 million grant. There are two universities receiving funding: the University of Washington receives $1.3 million. Other contenders include CalWave Power Technologies, Columbia Power Technologies, Dehlsen Associates, Oscilla Power, Integral Consulting, and Littoral Power System.
