The U.S. is developing wave energy, and its success could help remote areas with no access to electricity

In the simplest of terms, waves are energy moving through water. Given their existence as flowing energy, it's surprising that up until the past two decades, waves were untapped as a possible U.S. electricity source.

"At a moment when large offshore wind projects are encountering public resistance, a nascent ocean industry is showing promise: wave energy," reports Sarah Raza of The Washington Post. Off the coast of Newport, Oregon, "a $100 million effort with funding from the Energy Department aims to convert the power of waves into energy. . . . PacWave, a project of Oregon State University, represents a necessary step for commercializing wave energy."

Located about seven miles from shore, PacWave's site spans 2.65 square miles of ocean, where most testing is done underwater and unseen by Newport's residents. Raza explains, "Subsea connectors are waiting to be plugged in like extension cords to wave energy converters. . . . With deep-sea offshore testing, companies will see how much power these energy converters can produce, whether they can hold up in rough ocean conditions, what environmental impacts they might have and how the devices will interact with each other."

Once the technology undergoes more experimentation and decision-making by scientists, its potential success could be a "game-changer." Raza writes, "There’s enough energy in the waves off America’s coasts to power one-third of all the nation’s homes, said Matthew Grosso, the Energy Department’s director of the water power technologies office."

Wave energy could be particularly appealing for rural areas with high energy costs and little to no access to electricity. "In small, remote communities that depend on more expensive diesel fuel, wave power could ease energy woes," Raza reports. PacWave Director Dan Helli told Raza, "There are remote communities in Alaska where everyone is running on diesel generators, they’re not on the grid, they have no electrical system."