For the past 5 years, wave energy industry and research interest off the Oregon and Washington coasts have taken recreational users, fishermen, and the vast audience of ocean users and resource managers on a roller coaster ride of reaction, planning and public process. By the end of the ride, culminating in a new chapter for wave energy in our Territorial Sea Plan, it was clear that much of the coastal support for wave energy was wary of outside industry, favoring trusted research and academic partnerships with a strong interest in piloting devices and slow build-out for commercial projects. Newport is a prime example where these interests are being executed, as part of a regional partnership through the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center; where trusted local university research helps support industry research. Newport is home to the North Energy Test Site and will be the future home of the South Energy Test Site. Both of these sites act as a hub in the testing of devices from the marine renewable energy industry in cooperation with local universities (OSU in Oregon and UW in Washington).
The acronyms from partnerships and projects within this regional effort could drive one bonkers, so to confuse you real quick before clarifying: NNMREC, PMEC, OSU and UW have a nice little shared document that will help you better understand the PMEC NET and SET wave energy research sites within Newport's OOWT (ok, I made that last one up). There's also a great FAQ for Newport's South Test Site...check them out below.