The Coming Tsunami Of Wave Energy Is Still Coming

Wave energy just got a real testing ground in the US. The Energy Department has officially opened PacWave South, a grid-connected test site seven miles off the Oregon coast, developed with Oregon State University over more than a dozen years. Because the site is already pre-permitted, companies building wave energy devices can test them without going through lengthy separate permitting, which should speed up development. The facility can eventually host up to 20 wave energy converters, and developers have already started working with facility operators ahead of the first tests.

This is notable because wave energy — using the motion of ocean waves to generate electricity — has moved slowly compared to wind and solar, partly for lack of real-world testing data. The federal government has kept supporting this technology even as it has pulled back on offshore wind and solar, treating marine energy as a branch of hydropower. Separately, in Hawaii, a federal lab and the University of Hawaii have spent the past five months running a small experimental wave device called SURF-WEC, sharing its performance data publicly online to help other developers.

None of this changes anything for your home right now. Wave energy is not something homeowners can install or buy into, and no utility programs or rebates are mentioned. It matters mainly as a sign that a new source of renewable electricity is inching toward commercial use, which could eventually add more clean power to the grid your home draws from.