A £42 million "socket" to test wave energy technology off the Cornish coast is on course to be deployed this summer.

Wave Hub will create the world's largest test site for marine renewable devices through a grid-connected socket on the seabed, 10 miles off the north coast of Cornwall, to which wave power devices can be connected and their performance evaluated.

The pioneering project has been developed by the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) and is a cornerstone of its strategy to develop a world-class marine energy industry in the region.

The RDA confirmed yesterday that fabrication of massive underwater cables and the hub – which is the size of a van – is nearing completion.

Wave Hub general manager Guy Lavender said: "After seven years of planning, it's hugely satisfying to see the cable and hub actually taking shape. We're on course for deployment this summer and extensive testing will take place before we welcome our first wave energy devices at Wave Hub, which we expect in 2011.

"The announcement in March by the Crown Estate of the first commercial licences for wave energy deployment off the north coast of Scotland makes Wave Hub more relevant than ever, because we can provide the industry with a grid-connected test facility on a scale not seen before that it can use before commercial deployment."

Hartlepool-based JDR Cable Systems is constructing both the armoured 25km sub-sea cable that will connect Wave Hub to the National Grid and the hub structure that will sit on the seabed.

The cable manufacture is well advanced – a process which involves twisting together copper and fibre optic cables and covering them with two layers of steel armouring and an outer sheath.

The company is also making four 300-metre "tails" that will connect the hub to wave energy devices on or just below the surface of the sea.

Work is also well under way on the hub itself. The rigid steel structure, some two metres high and six metres long and weighing 12 tonnes, will sit on the seabed in 50 metres of water and be covered in several metres of rock.

The structure, which will provide a connection between the main cable from the shore and the tails leading to the wave energy devices, is designed to last at least 25 years. Patrick Phelan, managing director of JDR Cable Systems, said: "We are delighted to be taking a leading role in the design and manufacture of the Wave Hub cable system. This is exactly the type of renewable energy project that our Hartlepool factory was designed to build.

"We are combining our extensive experience in sub-sea oil and gas developments with our more recent experience of large scale offshore windfarm projects to provide a comprehensive solution to this exciting project."

Onshore, work continues on the construction of an electricity substation at Hayle.

The six-month project includes the installation of more than £1 million of electrical equipment, including a monitoring system for wave energy developers to measure how much power their devices produce.

In February, work to drill a 200-metre duct through sand dunes at Hayle, where Wave Hub's cable will come ashore, was completed.

An independent economic impact assessment has calculated that Wave Hub could create 1,800 jobs and inject £560m in the UK economy over 25 years. Almost 1,000 of these jobs and £332m could be generated in the South West.

But only one renewable energy company, Ocean Power Technologies Limited, has so far signed up to take a berth on the Wave Hub for its PowerBuoy wave energy converter.

A number of other companies have pulled out of Wave Hub. The RDA said discussions are ongoing with other developers.