PacWave staffers show undersea cables and subsea connectors and explain during a dedication ceremony and open house Thursday how wave energy companies attach their equipment to it for testing. (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
More than 15 years and $130 million in the making, the first pre-permitted wave energy testing site in the United States is complete.
On Thursday, Oregon State University leaders, U.S. Department of Energy representatives, PacWave staff, and government officials gathered with 100 others to celebrate the completion of the project at its on-shore terminus north of Waldport.
Oregon State University President Jayathi Murthy addresses the audience Thursday during the dedication for the completion of the PacWave testing project north of Waldport. (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)“This is groundbreaking and we are top in the nation,” said Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore. “… This should be an example of how government at every level can work in a bipartisan way with private industry and premier academic institutions to make life better and more affordable for Americans.”
Burning sources of nonrenewable energy such as coal, oil and natural gas for electricity emits carbon which traps heat and raises the temperature of the atmosphere. Wave energy emits none but its potential for renewable energy is still in the early stages.
That’s where PacWave comes in.
PacWave director Dan Hellin explains the wave energy testing system to a crowd Thursday that included Oregon State University President Jayathi Murty, left, Tim Ramsey of the U.S. Department of Energy and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore. (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)Underneath the endless waves at Driftwood Beach State Park north of Waldport, buried beneath the ocean floor are four tubes carrying 12 miles of copper and fiber cables. There, up to 20 testing devices can connect, converting the perpetual movement of the ocean to electricity that travels to a vault under the state park before making its way to the OSU-owned facility where it can flow into the local grid.
The site will allow companies experimenting with wave energy to have a place to test their devices to see if they could truly generate electricity on a utility scale to support hundreds or even thousands of homes.
Even though the grid was completed last year, the facility has yet to generate electricity because no wave energy devices have arrived, as developers faced federal funding delays and narrow seasonal windows to connect their equipment.
The terminus of the $130 million PacWave testing system is the three building site on Wenger Street north of Waldport. It’s here that companies with energy machines attached to cables 12 miles at sea will how effective they are at generating electricity, which will then be put into the Central Lincoln People’s Utility District grid. (OSU)Federal delays
After Trump returned to office in 2025, PacWave had to pass a “go/no-go” review by the U.S. Department of Energy that required approval by the energy secretary to open. The Trump Administration has implemented policies that slow energy permitting and canceled billions in grants for hundreds of clean energy projects, with wind power taking the biggest blows.
PacWave received the green light and finished the grid last summer, but no devices have yet been installed.
Federal funding was slowed with the new administration as it saw a higher level of review before being doled out, PacWave director Dan Hellin told the Lincoln Chronicle. But Oregon’s weather also contributed to the delay. Installing wave energy devices requires large vessels and there is a short window of time to get everything lined up before the ocean becomes too rough.
“It’s challenging because your window is really mid-May through the end of September,” he said.
Graphic shows how the PacWave testing system works, from undersea cables stretching 1`2 miles out to sea to the connection and monitoring facility north of Waldport. (OSU)A feat
PacWave South isn’t the first wave energy test site in the United States. There is a grid off the coast of Hawaii that is run by the Navy. The company also has another older facility called PacWave North northwest of Newport that charges a massive battery.
PayWave’s South facility is different because it can handle a much larger amount of energy – 20 megawatts total which allows developers to have a better idea of if their devices are able to provide energy to homes and businesses. The site is also the first to be pre-permitted, Hellin said, meaning developers do not have to go through federal and state permitting which can add years in the process.
There are 48 miles of cables in four 12-mile sections stretching from Driftwood Beach State Park north of Waldport out to sea where energy companies hook up their wave energy equipment. (Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle)And building the infrastructure was a feat.
A vessel carrying 48 miles of cable weighing 27 tons took more than two months to bury them below the ocean floor.
Now that the grid is complete and there is more optimism for federal funding making its way to wave energy companies, PacWave is gearing up to host its first developers. The cable lines can support up to four companies and 20 total devices at one time.
There are three companies lined up, with the hope they will connect their devices next summer – CalWave, C-Power, and Aquaharmonics in partnership with Portland State University.
“We can now stop talking about PacWave in the future tense,” said Hellin. “PacWave is built, PacWave is grid connected, and PacWave is operational. And now the really fun part begins, which is actually putting this facility into work.”
- Shayla Escudero is an enterprise reporter for the Lincoln Chronicle covering local governments, education, housing and social services and can be reached at [email protected]
Outstanding! I am very glad that Oregon State University, local, state and federal government officials were able to come together with PacWave and bring this facility to functionality. I am looking forward to seeing this site and others like it generating, clean, renewable energy for our future.
In March of 2022, NREL published a report on grid integration for PacWave. The number one concern was the need for substations in Seal Rock and Waldport to compensate for a seven mile long underwater cable. This amounted to about 5MW for one cable, now there are four 12 mile cables. It seems like we’re going to need to add 20MW onshore just for wire loss. I would like to see how this is going to improve our local power system. Sounds like a zero sum game.