PacWave South shoreside construction to begin in June

Oregon State University (OSU) is set to begin the construction of the shoreside components of the PacWave South wave energy test facility in June.

Most of the activity will be focused on the Driftwood Beach State Recreation Site area in Seal Rock.

The project includes horizontal directional drilling beneath the ocean shore to pass subsea cables deep under the beach to the park.

OSU and the Oregon Parks & Recreation Department (OPRD) will be holding two virtual town hall meetings to provide updates on the project and talk about what will be happening during construction. 

The meetings will be held on 10 May at 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm and both will include a public Q&A session.

The PacWave South open ocean wave energy test center will be located some six nautical miles off Newport in Oregon.

The research lease covers the area of approximately 4,270 acres or 2.65 square miles.

The project will consist of four test berths to support the testing of up to 20 wave energy converter (WEC) devices, with an installed capacity not to exceed 20 MW.