Jacobs (NYSE:J) this week said it has completed the underground infrastructure engineering for the PacWave South project in Oregon, which will become the first full-scale test facility for wave energy technologies in the US.
The engineering company led the works for the HDD Company, the design-build contractor for the project, which is being delivered by the US Department of Energy, the state of Oregon and Oregon State University.
The PacWave South site will enable the testing of up to 20 wave energy devices seven miles (11.3 km) off Oregon’s coast.
The project involves four offshore steel conduits up to 120 feet (36.6 metres) below the seafloor and extending a mile offshore. They connect to a bundle of five onshore high-density polyethylene (HDPE) conduits and ultimately to PacWave’s Utility Connection and Monitoring Facility. The conduits were installed using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) methods.
PacWave’s deputy director Dan Hellin, said that the Jacobs team created 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.”
Cable manufacturer Nexans SA earlier this year secured a contract to provide the cables for PacWave South, which is expected to become operational in 2024.
