This paper illustrates opportunities for ocean wave power to become a new, reliable and clean source of renewable energy. Presented are the activities of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC), a Department of Energy sponsored partnership between Oregon State University and the University of Washington (UW). NNMREC performs fundamental technological, social, and environmental research on marine renewables, in addition to providing unique testing facilities including a wave energy linear test bed, 2D and 3D wave tanks, and an Ocean Sentinel mobile ocean test berth instrumentation buoy to facilitate ocean testing. This paper includes the ongoing research and testing with the Ocean Sentinel instrumentation buoy, in addition to the developing cable-to-shore testing facility, which would be the first utility scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the US. Finally, this paper presents the ongoing research and testing of materials and technologies for bio-fouling and corrosion prevention in the marine environment.