Giving a European perspective on American wave energy test site creation, the Managing Director of Orkney-based consultancy Aquatera, Gareth Davies, gave an estimate on the effects the center could have on the Oregon coast economy and the marine industry as a whole.
As one of the partners of the Pacific Marine Energy Center South Energy Test Site (PMEC-SETS), expected to be operational after 2020 off Oregon, Aquatera has calculated that that 1,000 jobs would be created per 1GW of deployment, according to Davies.
Speaking with the US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), Davies also revealed that during the operational phase of the center, about 100 to 150 jobs will be created through supply chain development up and down the Oregon coast.
Davies was featured in WPTO’s series of stakeholder-based interviews as part of its early engagement activities with various PMEC-SETS stakeholders and the marine industry to examine possible connections between marine energy and coastal economic development.
The PMEC-SETS is being designed and constructed by Oregon State University. When completed, PMEC-SETS will be a utility scale, grid-connected, open ocean test facility able to accommodate up to 20 wave energy converters (WECs) in four test berths at any one time.
In December 2016, the US Energy Department announced the award of up to $35 million in funding for the construction of the center.