This paper presents an evaluation of the efficiency of twelve state of the art wave energy converters in the Atlantic Ocean, in the vicinity of the most important European islands and archipelagos (Iceland, Archipelago of Azores, Madeira Archipelago and Canary Islands). An analysis of the wave conditions in the target areas was first performed by considering a 10-year interval (2004-2013) of wave data provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. For this reason, twenty reference points, all located in water depths of about 50 m, were defined. In order to provide a general picture of the wave potential and also to highlight the presence of some hot spots, several wave parameters, such as significant wave height, mean wave direction and wave power, were evaluated. Then, for every nearshore area, based on the bivariate distributions of the sea states occurrences and also on the power matrix of each device, the performances of each wave energy converter were estimated in terms of the expected electrical power. The results of the present work provide valuable information for the future wave farm projects, which could become in the near future a reliable and effective way to produce energy in island environments. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.