Crews have begun installing the power and data cables to complete construction of a new wave energy testing facility off the Oregon Coast. By sea mariners are requested to keep a distance of 500 yards from the vessels coordinating laying and burying of the cables and by land portions of Driftwood State Beach Recreation Site will be closed.
The cables will support Oregon State University’s PacWave South, the first pre-permitted, utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States. When the facility is completed, wave energy developers will be able to test different technologies for harnessing the power of ocean waves and transmitting that energy to the local electrical grid. Surfrider Foundation has been tracking the project engaging early in siting discussion in Lincoln County and communicating progress and impacts to the beach and ocean recreational community along the way. Beyond some of these temporary closures and impacts, surfers and ocean recreational users are keenly interested in some of the wave and ocean data from the project, more on that here.
“Transmitting power from wave-energy generators to shore in a form compatible with the regional power grid is a huge challenge, and cabled connection from PacWave South provides the capability to test power-delivery technologies,” said Burke Hales, PacWave’s chief scientist and a professor in the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. “These cables are highly specialized and their installation and burial is a keystone of wave energy development in the U.S.”
The work includes installing four power and data cables ranging in length from about 10 to 13 continuous miles from a vault under the parking lot of Driftwood Beach State Park south of Newport out to the test site offshore.
“We are asking all mariners in the area to maintain a minimum distance of 500 yards from any vessel involved in the cable installation process,” Hellin said. “While these vessels will be moving very slowly, they will be laying cables and have equipment operating on the seafloor, so they will be unable to stop operations or deviate from their planned route.” Site coordinates can be found on the project's website.
On land, another group will be installing cables that run from the vault to a shoreside utility connection and monitoring facility on the east side of Highway 101 just south of Driftwood. Two of the three buildings at the site are nearly completed and the third is a couple of months behind them, Hellin said.
Portions of the Driftwood Beach State Recreation Site parking lot will be closed beginning July 16 to accommodate the work. Beach access and park restrooms will remain open, but parking may be limited and recreational vehicles and other large vehicles may not be able to turn around. Alternative parking and beach access is available at Governor Patterson Memorial State Recreation Site 3 miles south of Driftwood Beach.
Access to Driftwood is expected to be limited through mid-September. Construction updates will be posted on the project’s website: https://pacwaveenergy.org/constructionupdates/.