PacWave South, the United States’ first grid-connected, internationally accredited open-ocean wave energy test facility, officially opened in late August on the Oregon coast near Newport. The facility represents a significant milestone following 15 years of planning, design, and construction by Oregon State University, the National Laboratory of the Rockies, and partner organizations including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office.
The test site features four berths, each equipped with a 5-megawatt subsea transmission cable connected to an onshore monitoring facility. Operating under a 25-year Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, PacWave South is pre-permitted to host up to 20 wave energy converters simultaneously, with a potential capacity of 20 megawatts when fully operational. Unlike its counterpart facility PacWave North, PacWave South is designed specifically to support large-scale commercial wave energy applications and allows developers to test technologies in open-ocean conditions without conducting separate environmental assessments.
A key differentiator for the facility is its international accreditation framework, which enables the generation of globally recognized test data and certification reports. The National Laboratory of the Rockies provided critical support by leveraging its ISO/IEC 17025-accredited status and working with the European Marine Energy Centre to establish accredited testing procedures. This accreditation addresses what industry participants refer to as the commercialization “valley of death”—the gap between prototype development and market viability where developers must provide third-party validated performance data to secure investor and insurance backing.
Developers using PacWave South will generally bear testing costs, although opportunities exist to apply for Department of Energy funding. The facility enables wave energy companies ranging from research institutions to commercial startups to transition from laboratory testing to real-world ocean deployment, ultimately advancing the commercialization trajectory of marine energy technologies.
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