Oregon Sea Grant

In 2011, The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) began a focused effort to develop an open-ocean facility to test full-scale devices, called the Pacific Marine Energy Center South Energy Test Site (PMEC-SETS). NNMREC partnered with Oregon Sea Grant Extension (OSG) to implement a community process to find the site for PMEC-SETS. Leaders from both organizations began the process by meeting with community leaders in four coastal communities to create awareness about PMEC-SETS, to answer questions, and to gauge the interest level of each community in hosting the PMEC-SETS site. The process continued with community forums regarding the process to find a site for PMEC‐SETS. This report details an evaluation of this process to determine a final site for PMEC-SETS, and it provides recommendations for future wave energy siting efforts based on the evaluation and relevant literature. The evaluation was conducted using a mixed method approach of interviews and an online survey.