COOS BAY—“This is the beginning of a process,” said Herb Nock, the vice president of business development and marketing for Ocean Power Technologies.

It was an optimistic sign.

Nock’s comments came at the beginning of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-mandated public hearing on a potential project to install 200 wave energy buoys off the North Spit. The project is proposed by Oregon Wave Energy Partners I, a subsidiary of OPT, which is designing the technology for the buoys.

His comments set a different tone from previous meetings at which some negotiations between OPT and commercial fishermen resulted in terse comments, frustration and distrust.

OPT also is proposing a smaller array at Gardiner, but is looking to the Bay Area for larger project and to better the relations between the community and the company.

Nock, who worked with other energy companies and developers for years, joined OPT in January. This is the first time he’s addressed local residents in a public forum. Repeatedly, he said OPT wants to work with the community and that no buoys would go in until the community is behind the project.

Oregon’s goal is to have 25 percent of the state’s electricity generated by renewable resources by 2025, Nock said. Most of the concentration is on solar, wind and biomass energy, but wave energy can be a part of that. The country is on the renewable energy path, too, with the new administration that will be in place for the next four years, Nock added.

Wave energy also represents “significant opportunities for economic development along the coast,” Nock said.

But the biggest hurdle to overcome is debate about ocean space shared by commercial fishermen and the concerns they have over placement of buoys, mooring lines and 165-ton anchors, three of which will be required for each buoy.

If a buoy sinks — and one will, Charleston fisherman Shawn Ryan said — does OPT have a plan for getting it out of the water?

“I don’t want to get stuck with a mess,” Ryan said.

Nock said plans for removing the buoys from the ocean floor at this point are sketchy, but that’s where local citizens can take part in OPT’s plans.

“We will have these discussions with the community,” Nock assured the audience of about 50 folks.

Other attendees had questions about the economic displacement of fishermen, how many jobs the wave park could generate, how the placement of the arrays could affect ship traffic coming into the port and concerns about how fast OPT is moving to put buoys in the water.

Nock said more public meetings will be held and final plans to FERC won’t even be submitted until 2010, with only a few buoys in place in 2011. The most important thing, he reiterated, was the community’s respect for OPT.

Years from now, Nock said, “I hope, if nothing else, that you’ll be ale to look back at the company and say, ‘They did it right.’

“That’s all that counts.”

OPT was holding another public hearing this morning at the Red Lion Hotel and a site visit to see where the wave farm would be placed off the North Spit.