Wave Energy Research Centre (WERC)

In collaboration with the College of the North Atlantic, WERC offers a number of opportunities for companies and organizations to test and deploy their devices. The centre has worked with multiple companies to help solve their technical challenges. When WERC first opened, the research focused on developing a wave energy driven water pump to pump water to the shore for aquaculture. Water is pumped into the facility from 100m offshore at a 10 m depth using one of 3 redundant electric pumps. The water is filtered to 200 µm before passing through a degassing column on the way to a 7000L header tank.

The local fishing community through the Lord’s Cove Harbour Authority, the municipal government, and local and regional development agencies are active partners in the establishment of WERC and the research it carries out. WERC has provided the community of Lord's Cove with economic and technical benefits from both the wave-powered piston pump and the shore based multi-species aquaculture facility and through the tourism that WERC attracts.

www.researchgate.net

Site Manager

College of the North Atlantic

Device Status Is the test site actively testing or in planning (active)? Or is it permanently closed for business (inactive)?

Active

Energy Resource

Wave

Duration

2011 - Ongoing

Grid Connectivity

Not Grid Connected

Number of Berths

6

Waterbody

Lord's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Site Characteristics Geographic characterization for the test site location:<ul> <li>Open Ocean: Main body of ocean, not enclosed or partially enclosed by land</li> <li>Coastal: Open water near the coast, spanning between land and shelf boundary</li> <li>Enclosed Bay: water that is partially surrounded by land, with a mouth open to larger water</li> <li>Constricted Channel: A channel where water flows quickly due to narrowing by the land</li> <li>River: Water flowing from land towards a larger body of water</li></ul>

Enclosed Bay

Country

Canada

Last Modified

17 June 2025

This Test Site has the following MRE Devices

Citation Formats

“Wave Energy Research Centre (WERC).” Marine Energy Projects Database: Test Sites, PRIMRE, United States Department of Energy, https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Test_Sites/Wave_Energy_Research_Centre_(WERC). Accessed <day> <monthRoman> <year>.

Marine Energy Projects Database: Test Sites. <year>. "Wave Energy Research Centre (WERC)." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Test_Sites/Wave_Energy_Research_Centre_(WERC).