Testing wave energy for the future.
PacWave is the nation’s first grid-connected open-ocean wave energy test facility, turning the motion of the Pacific into affordable, reliable, secure energy.
Building The Next Energy Frontier
Years of planning, collaboration, and construction have brought PacWave from concept to reality. Learn about the people, infrastructure, and milestones that make open-ocean, grid-connected wave energy testing possible off the Oregon coast.
Subsea Installation Progress Continues Offshore
September 2024
Innovator arrived in Coos Bay
July 2024
PacWave South Test Facility Now Open
The Frontier is Open
Ribbon Cutting Highlight:
- On August 27, Oregon State University celebrated the opening of PacWave South, marking the culmination of 15 years of planning, collaboration, engineering, and construction.
- The ribbon-cutting brought together partners from industry, government, academia, and the community to celebrate this milestone for wave energy research and demonstration. Now open, PacWave South provides a real-world environment for testing and advancing wave energy technologies in the open ocean.
- We’re excited to see what comes next as PacWave enables new research, collaboration, and innovation in the years ahead.
Oregon State University’s PacWave is advancing wave energy technology by:
- Providing open-ocean testing sites off Newport, Oregon.
- Supporting innovative ocean-based technologies.
- Accelerating the future of marine energy through research and collaboration.
Ribbon Cutting
August 2026
Where Data Drives Discovery
Monitoring buoys at PacWave North and PacWave South collect information about waves and ocean conditions, providing valuable data to support research, testing, and operations at the PacWave sites.
Data collected at PacWave are publicly available through the Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository, where researchers, developers, and the public can view data from the test sites. Explore PacWave Data.