Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Niue aspires to become fully solar powered

Posted at 22:49 on 11 November, 2012 UTC

The Premier of Niue says the country is aspiring to follow the lead of Tokelau and become 100 percent solar powered.

Niue has received four million US dollars in funding from the Pacific Environment Community Fund, a joint initiative between the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Japanese government.

Tokelau is the first country in the world to become 100 percent solar powered.

The Premier of Niue Toke Talagi says the installation of solar power grid connected generators will reduce the country’s dependency on fossil fuels and can save up to about 320,000 US dollars a year.

“We’re very keen at the present moment to use alternative energy and particularly solar power. And we’re very pleased indeed the Japanese government has agreed to provide this amount of money so that we can, in the long term, become self sustaining in terms of our power requirements using solar.”

Toke Talagi says the installation process will take a year and initially will initially generate about 30 percent of the country’s electricity needs.