The first is to obtain a preliminary permit.

The second is to obtain a license.

According to the FERC Web site, http://www.ferc.gov, a permit is issued for up to three years and does not authorize construction. Instead, it maintains a priority of application for a license while the company or organization wanting to develop a wave energy park studies the site and prepares to apply for a license. As part of the permitting process, the permittee must submit periodic reports on the status of its studies. The Web site also said that it is not necessary to get a permit in order to apply for or receive a license.

On the other hand, an original license establishes more longevity and permanence.

Original licenses currently are restricted to newly constructed projects - such as wave energy parks - or existing projects that come under FERC's jurisdiction and are in effect for a period of between 30 and 50 years. A license also conveys the right of eminent domain.

Only one license for a wave energy project is pending; none has been issued.

Finavera Renewables Inc., the same company proposing a wave energy project near Bandon, applied for a license for its Makah Bay Offshore Wave Energy Pilot Project in Washington on Nov. 7, 2006.

Wave energy projects are growing in popularity as companies and governments rush to find alternative energy sources. Already, nine permits have been issued for projects in Washington - eight in Puget Sound and one at Willapa Bay - one in Alaska and one in California, and the three in Oregon.

There still is one project pending approval in Washington, nine in Alaska, three in California and four more in Oregon.

In Oregon, permits have been approved for:

€ Reedsport and Ocean Power Technologies for the study of the Reedsport OPT Wave Park, a proposed 200-buoy, 50-megawatt wave energy park about 3 miles off Reedsport that would have an annual generation of 153.3 gigawatt-hours of electricity, applied for on July 14, 2006 and approved on Feb. 16;

€ Oregon Wave Energy Park Partners I LLC for the feasibility study of the Coos Bay OPT Wave Park Project, about 2.5 miles off the North Spit, consisting of between 200 and 400 buoys with a total capacity of 100 megawatts and an annual generation of about 306.6 gigawatt-hours of electricity per unit per year, applied for on Nov. 2, 2006, and approved on March 9; and

€ Douglas County, for the feasibility study of the Douglas County Wave and Tidal Energy Project consisting of one to three proposed wave energy buoys with a capacity of 1,000 to 3,000 kilowatts that would produce an annual .7- to 2.2-gigawatt-hours of electricity near the mouth of the Umpqua River, applied for Aug. 28, 2006, and approved on April 6.

The other projects in Oregon pending approval are:

€ the Coos County Wave Project south of Bandon, applied for by Finavera Renewables, the same company working on the Makah Bay Offshore Wave Energy Pilot Project;

€ the Newport OPT Wave Park near Newport, applied for by the Oregon Wave Energy Partners II;

€ the Lincoln County Wave Energy project also near Newport, applied for by Lincoln County; and

€ the Columbia Tidal Energy Project near the mouth of the Columbia River, applied for by the Oregon Tidal Energy Company.

- Staff Writer Susan Chambers