2013 Marine Energy Matters, Wave Hub and EMEC- Wave Energy Resource Comparison series https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=015_a2178d42-1e33-4c02-bc20-938801e96b9e The majority of publicly available information on wave energy resource is based on gross averages (kW/m crest of wave), leaving a lack of clarity of how energy is distributed across the wave spectrum and how this impacts the total power that can be practically extracted by wave energy devices at different sites. This study presents a more detailed assessment of the wave energy resource at Wave Hub and EMEC, extending beyond the basic comparison of average wave energy from the BERR Renewables Atlas1 to include an understanding of the actual energy generated by a specific wave energy converter (WEC) in the two locations. By directly comparing measured wave conditions, this study aims to avoid the risks of an average energy comparison which does not take account of the actual conditions and the ability of the WEC to generate. In the extreme, a site with 'lower' average resource could provide a high percentage of time with medium size waves, in a particular WEC’s prime energy generation conditions, while a site with 'higher' average resource could spend a smaller amount of time with lower resource but significant time with extremely large waves which might not be captured by the WEC. The real scenario will obviously not be so extreme but this analysis will help provide a better understanding of how EMEC (Scotland) and Wave Hub (South West UK) compare in terms of actual generated energy for a specific device, over an identical time frame. 20131206