Story at a glance
- In collaboration with Oregon State University, the Department of the Interior issued a lease to researchers to study offshore energy cultivation.
- Officials project the site will be working by 2021 to 2022.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior, announced Tuesday a new lease dedicated to offshore energy research projects along the West Coast.
The lease has been issued to Oregon State University. Researchers from the school will work along the outer continental shelf of the West Coast of the U.S. and begin conducting renewable energy research.
“This is the first time a lease has been issued to support the testing of wave energy equipment in federal waters off the U.S. West Coast,” said BOEM Director Amanda Lefton. “Ocean waves contain a tremendous amount of energy, and this opportunity offers exciting potential to demonstrate the viability of wave energy technology and expand the nation’s renewable energy portfolio.”
Ocean waves contain a lot of energy, and today, @BOEM_DOI issued a lease for the first wave energy research project in federal waters off the U.S. West Coast. This effort works to address climate change & promote offshore renewable energy production: https://t.co/E1jaXlMJiI pic.twitter.com/jeC1QlzA5f
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) February 16, 2021
The project developed offshore will focus on studying marine hydrokinetic technology, which works to capture energy from ocean tides and currents, converting it into electricity. This power will be used to provide clean energy to private and residential structures as opposed to electricity generated from power plants, which release carbon into the atmosphere.
Called PacWaveSouth, the lease area encompasses about 6.67 square miles. The project was first submitted to the U.S. government in 2013. Experts at Oregon State expect the site to be operational in late 2021 to 2022.
Ocean-generated energy in this project will likely utilize floating or underwater devices that generate energy from moving waves.
Twenty wave energy converter devices will be used, each with a capacity to deliver 20 megawatts of electricity.
President Biden ran on a platform that included focusing federal resources on promoting clean energy sources in the U.S. He aims to take legislative steps toward the U.S. becoming a net-zero emissions country by 2050.
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