Could the ocean soon provide power to homes?

Research decades in the making is testing devices to convert the power of ocean waves into electricity.

Transcript

00:00The power of the ocean could soon be used to power homes in the United States as scientists

00:04prepare to test an untapped form of renewable energy.

00:08The U.S. Department of Energy has already invested $112.5 million to advance the commercial

00:14readiness of wave energy technologies by harnessing the powerful waves.

00:18The first ever facility equipped with open water testing is set to begin operations off

00:23the Oregon coast next summer.

00:26Named PacWave, the facility is built with the infrastructure to house four separate

00:31test berths each with its own dedicated cable that leads to about seven miles offshore back

00:37to the coastal facility.

00:39It's a project more than a decade in the making, requiring years of permit approvals with the

00:44Federal Emergency Regulation Commission and input from all the federal ocean agencies,

00:49including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Fisheries Service, and the Marine

00:54Mammal Commission.

00:56The five-year investment from the federal government will involve testing companies

01:00to accelerate the design, fabrication, and testing of the wave energy converters, which

01:06will harness that power from the ocean waves, which will then be converted to PacWave into

01:10energy that will supply the power grid.

01:14Ocean wave energy could soon be synonymous with other natural sources of power like wind,

01:18solar, and geothermal, just to name a few.

01:21In the United States, there's enough estimated marine energy resources, including waves,

01:26tides, rivers, and ocean currents to power over half of the country's energy demands.

01:32The renewable could prove to be even more abundant, unlike solar, which ends when the

01:36sun sets, and wind, which isn't always available, so that's what we're going to be watching

01:41out for that.

01:42Stay right here with AccuWeatherhead.

01:43We'll have more updates coming up right after this.