Tokelau Drops Diesel To Become The First Solar-Powered Place On Earth
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Oct 22, 2024
Oct 22, 2024
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Home to 1,400 people over an area of 10km<sup>2</sup>, Tokelau is soon going to be the first place on Earth which entirely depends on solar energy for its power. Tokelau, an island located near New Zealand, along with two other atolls in the South Pacific dependency, are expected to have their own solar power systems by October, this year.
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Once the project, lead by Powersmart Solar, is completed, Tokelau will become the first country to be fully-powered by solar energy, only needing fossil fuels to power its three cars. These atolls, which are currently dependent on diesel for their power needs, run the risk and environmental costs of unloading diesel drums. As a measure to these issues along with keeping a check on expected future costs of electricity, solar power generators were introduced as an alternative source of power across the Pacific.
The island has access to electricity for between 15-18 hours a day, which was previously provided by diesel generators, burning almost  200 litres of fuel daily. Soon, those generators will be replaced with 4032 solar panels, 392 inverters and 1344 batteries covering almost 150% of Tokelau’s power needs, without any increase in the diesel demand.
The system is built to withstand cyclone forces of about 230km/h.  The first solar system on the atoll of Fakaofo, a part of Tokelau, is expected to be switched on within this month.
Source: <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/7408149/Tokelau-to-shed-diesel-dependence" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Tokelau to shed diesel dependence | Stuff.co.nz</a>Â Image Credit: #-Link-Snipped-#
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Once the project, lead by Powersmart Solar, is completed, Tokelau will become the first country to be fully-powered by solar energy, only needing fossil fuels to power its three cars. These atolls, which are currently dependent on diesel for their power needs, run the risk and environmental costs of unloading diesel drums. As a measure to these issues along with keeping a check on expected future costs of electricity, solar power generators were introduced as an alternative source of power across the Pacific.
The island has access to electricity for between 15-18 hours a day, which was previously provided by diesel generators, burning almost  200 litres of fuel daily. Soon, those generators will be replaced with 4032 solar panels, 392 inverters and 1344 batteries covering almost 150% of Tokelau’s power needs, without any increase in the diesel demand.
The system is built to withstand cyclone forces of about 230km/h.  The first solar system on the atoll of Fakaofo, a part of Tokelau, is expected to be switched on within this month.
Source: <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/7408149/Tokelau-to-shed-diesel-dependence" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Tokelau to shed diesel dependence | Stuff.co.nz</a>Â Image Credit: #-Link-Snipped-#