Oregon Public Broadcasting

Federal energy officials have tapped Oregon State University as one of just two national centers for ocean-based renewable energy.

OSU is eligible for more than $6 million over the next five years - bringing the wave research total to over $13 million.

Engineering professor, Robert Paasch says the new money will help researchers study the effectivenss of wave technology, and its impacts on the surrounding environment.

He says the wave center will focus on studying environmental effects first, rather than later, like what happened with hydro and wind power.

Robert Paasch: “Those are environmental impacts that nobody really studied before we started putting in these big farms of wind energy generators. With wave energy, we want to slow down and find out what those impacts are before we start putting devices out in the ocean.” 

More than one third of the money will go to develop a test berth off the Oregon Coast at Newport. About  one million dollars will go toward  improving the durability  of wave technology buoys as they're exposed to salty ocean water and storms.