Wired: Tokelau, a tiny collection of atolls in the South Pacific, is now completely able to support itself with solar energy — the first nation in the world to do so.
A one-megawatt solar panel array has been erected across the three atolls to provide its more than 1,400 residents with 150 percent of their electricity needs. It comes at a cost of £4.7 million, which might seem pricey considering the territory’s entire GDP is only £187,000 — but the long term savings from not having to import diesel and petrol will more than make up the cost in the long-term.
The 4,032 solar panels and 1,344 batteries have been installed by New Zealand company PowerSmart. The original plan was to generate 93 percent of Tokelau’s needs, with the remainder coming from burning coconut oil. It turns out that the panels can actually manage up to 150 percent of Tokelaun energy requirements, but the coconut oil is still around for cloudy days, working by night and emergencies.