The project precisely meets the objectives of The European Commission's
White Paper "Energy for the Future: Renewable Energy Sources". 
The White Paper sets out a Community Strategy and Action Plan to increase
the RES market penetration, to improve the security of energy supply, to reduce energy dependency and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of
meeting the Kyoto  targets.

In order to implement the Community Strategy and Action Plan, the European Commission launched the "Campaign for Take-Off" (CTO) that ran from 1999 to 2003. One key focus of the "Campaign for Take-Off" was the "100 Communities Aimed at 100% RES supply" initiative, with the El Hierro project being one of the most outstanding island schemes.

The project is very important for the development of European islands. 
Both the total surface area and population involved are much greater than one might initially think. The area in question, almost 5% of the surface area of the European Union, includes a population of over thirteen million islanders. This is
of enormous importance at a time when the "Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply" Green Paper is under discussion.