October 18, 2023 – CalWave applauds California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing into law California Senate Bill 605, which aims to pave the way for ocean renewable energy to play a significant role in California’s 100 percent clean energy future. The bill passed both the California State Senate and Assembly unanimously before it was signed by Governor Newsom.
Introduced by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego), the new law will require the California Energy Commission to “evaluate the feasibility, costs, and benefits of using wave energy and tidal energy” and to “identify suitable sea space for offshore wave energy and tidal energy projects in state and federal waters.”
Wave energy may provide numerous benefits to the electricity grid not exhibited by currently commercialized renewables like wind and solar. According to a 2021 report by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, increasing marine renewable energy resources from zero to 50-60 percent of our renewable energy generation capacity would cut required battery storage capacity by two-thirds. This can be attributed to the resource’s consistency and proximity to demand relative to other renewables.
“Signing SB 605 into law is a crucial step in diversifying California’s energy mix,” said Marcus Lehmann, co-founder and CEO of CalWave. “Deploying wave energy farms in California can reduce costs for California ratepayers and support grid resilience and energy security while creating local jobs.”
Multiple studies (Castle Wind and University of Edinburgh) show that a more diverse generation mix leads to lower total system costs, particularly for wind-wave co-location, and therefore lower electricity costs for ratepayers. CalWave is on track to deploy its first utility grid-connected system at the DOE-funded PacWave site offshore Oregon in 2025. A successful deployment there can lay the groundwork for the widespread scale-up of the company’s technology along California’s 840-mile coastline.
About CalWave
Founded in 2014, CalWave is a California-based wave energy developer on a mission to provide reliable and cost-effective ocean wave technologies for sustainable energy access. CalWave’s vision is to unlock the power of ocean waves to secure a clean energy future.
The company is a member of the International Electrotechnical Commission’s U.S. Shadow Committee for international standards on marine energy, and a member of NHA’s Marine Energy Council, which is calling for domestic marine energy deployment targets of 500 MW by 2030 and 1 GW by 2035.
Contact
Marcus Lehmann
Co-Founder and CEO
marcus@calwave.energy
www.calwave.energy/pressroom
(510) 508-9897
