The US Department of Energy has awarded up to $40m to the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Centre (NNMRC) to establish a wave test site in Oregon.
The facility to be known as the Pacific Marine Energy Centre South Energy Test Site will be constructed in Newport by the NNMRC at Oregon State University.
The planned facility is due to be completed by early 2020.
The pre-permitted site will include four grid-connected berths where researchers can test full-scale wave energy conversion device concepts.
A subsea cable will have the capacity to export up to 20MW ashore.
DoE under-secretary for science and energy Franklin Orr said: “Testing innovative wave energy devices at full scale in open water is an important step toward harnessing one day a reliable energy resource.
“This new facility will help us to advance the science and technology of wave energy devices, and to identify the challenges we will ultimately need to overcome in order to achieve commercial deployment.”
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