Jacobs has completed the underground infrastructure engineering that links the ocean to a new onshore utility-grid connection and monitoring facility for the PacWave South commercial-scale, ocean wave energy testing facility. The project in Seal Rock, Oregon, will be the first pre-permitted, full-scale test facility for wave energy devices in the USA, and was delivered for Oregon State University. Jacobs led the engineering services for the HDD Company, the design-build contractor for the project, to support the evaluation and testing of new energy generation technologies.
PacWave South allows up to 20 wave energy converters of various designs to be tested in real-world, open-sea conditions seven miles off Oregon's coast. The project includes four offshore steel conduits up to 120 feet below the seafloor and extending a mile offshore, connecting to a bundle of five onshore high-density polyethylene (HDPE) conduits, all installed using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) methods and ultimately connecting to PacWave's Utility Connection and Monitoring Facility. The HDD method was chosen to avoid disturbing sensitive wetlands and beach areas and because it allowed the work to be conducted year-round.
"The engineering for this project was complex, requiring our team to overcome coastal geology challenges, working in the near-shore environment around sensitive coastal wetlands, and meeting a tight schedule to obtain regulatory approval," said Koti Vadlamudi, Jacobs People & Places Solutions senior VP for Global Business Units.
PacWave's Deputy Director Dan Hellin, said, "Throughout design and construction, the Jacobs team continued to create innovative solutions … for instance, the collaboration on disguising the large concrete vault built at the state park, which was designed to splice and transition energy from offshore to onshore conduits as a reconstructed parking lot, ensured beachgoers would not see any disruption from the added wave energy testing infrastructure."
Image: Illustration of the PacWave test site (courtesy of Oregon State University)
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