PacWave South will be the first commercial-scale, utility grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States.
The approximately $80m (€65.6m) facility will offer wave energy developers the opportunity to try different technologies for harnessing the power of ocean waves and transmitting that energy to the local electrical grid.
Power and data cables buried below the seafloor will connect the ocean test site to a shore-based facility in Seal Rock. Construction will begin with underground installation of the conduits that will house the subsea cables.
Crews will begin assembling this week in the parking lot of the Driftwood Beach State Recreation Site, where the horizontal directional drilling to install cable conduits will take place over about 10 months said PacWave’s deputy director Dan Hellin.