Abstract
The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC), a partnership between Oregon State University (OSU) and the University of Washington (UW), was established through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind and Water Power Program and local funding to support wave and tidal energy development for the United States. OSU's focus is on wave energy development and UW's focus is on tidal energy development. The collective NNMREC activities facilitate commercialization of wave and tidal energy devices, inform regulatory policy decisions, and close key gaps in marine renewable energy understanding.
The OSU and NNMREC Wave Energy Test Project (Proposed Project) is an effort to deliver a mobile capability for testing the output of wave energy conversion (WEC) devices. As the lead for NNMREC's wave energy work, OSU would be the technical agent for the Proposed Project which would be located approximately 2.0 miles (3.2 kilometers) off the coast of Oregon near the city of Newport, Oregon. The Wave Energy Technology - New Zealand (WET-NZ) device would be the first WEC device deployed at the site and tested using the testing equipment included in the Proposed Project in 2012 and 2013.