The U.S. Department of Energy announced the official opening of PacWave South, a facility for testing wave energy devices in open water, approximately seven miles off the coast of Oregon. The facility operates in cooperation with Oregon State University and is designed to be connected to the electricity grid and capable of hosting multiple technologies for testing under actual ocean conditions.
The move comes as U.S. resource estimates indicate the potential to produce approximately 1,170 terawatt-hours per year of emissions-free electricity through wave energy, distributed across the coasts of the contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. However, this figure represents theoretical potential, as the industry continues to face engineering challenges and a slow transition from experimental models to commercial use.
What does PacWave South provide?
The facility's most important feature is that it has already obtained the permits required for testing. It is also covered by a lease agreement between Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, issued in 2021. This means wave energy device developers will not have to start the licensing process from scratch for every trial, which could reduce delays and costs associated with marine testing.
The facility is also developing mooring systems specifically for deployment in the ocean, allowing different devices to use shared connection solutions instead of designing an independent system for each device. Once completed, PacWave South will accommodate up to 20 wave energy converters distributed across four test berths.
The Bonneville Power Administration signed a formal agreement last year to receive electricity generated by wave energy devices at the facility, in a step that preceded the announcement of its opening.
Why does this matter?
The facility's practical value does not lie in launching a new commercial device, but in providing shared testing infrastructure that addresses one of the sector's main obstacles: the difficulty of collecting data from devices operating at sea for sufficient periods. The Department of Energy says operators have already begun working with marine energy developers in preparation for the first tests.
Wave energy is also supported by other U.S. research and development programs, including the TEAMER network and its testing facilities, as well as trials supported by the U.S. Navy in Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu since the early 2000s.
Open data from Hawaii
In parallel with the opening of PacWave South, researchers formerly from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in cooperation with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, are working on a small experimental device called SURF-WEC. The team collected data from the device over five months to address the shortage of real-world data available to the industry.
The device moves back and forth with the waves and operates a closed-loop hydraulic system to generate electricity when sufficient pressure is reached. Researchers can remotely adjust its wave response to test passive and active operating modes. The data are also published through the MODAQ 2.0 monitoring and operations platform via a live interface, allowing other parties to benefit from the results.
Nevertheless, the opening of PacWave South or the SURF-WEC trial does not prove that wave energy is ready for commercial competition. The source explains that the industry is still in the process of building expertise and data, and that the timeline for achieving a broad impact on decarbonization remains open. Researchers plan to operate SURF-WEC for approximately seven additional months, while making its live data feed available to observers.