One of the biggest challenges with renewable energy is its inconsistency: clouds might block the sun one day, or winds die down. But there are always waves in the ocean—even on calm days, and even at night.
The wave power industry is about 20 years behind wind power, says Burke Hales, a professor at Oregon State University and the chief scientist on the PacWave project, the testing site seven miles offshore in Newport, Oregon.
It’s difficult to build in the ocean—both in terms of the physical construction, and the permits and approvals needed. "If you're trying to build a wind turbine... It's just much easier to do a land-based test than it is to do an ocean test."
PacWave comes in as a 2-square-mile test site in the Pacific Ocean for wave energy developers. It includes four independent cables buried below the seafloor, which connect onshore to the local utility grid.
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