Mount Maunganui renewable energy company Powersmart Solar is celebrating a world first after switching on Tokelau's third solar power system to make it the first 100 per cent solar-powered nation.

The completion of the system on Tokelau's third atoll (Atafu) creates the world's largest off-grid solar power system and will save the nation from the increasingly high cost of diesel for generators.

Just over four months since work began, the award-winning $7.5 million Tokelau Renewable Energy Project can now supply enough electricity to exceed current requirements and allow Tokelau to meet 100 per cent of their climate change obligations.

PowerSmart Director of Engineering Shane Robinson says the project has gone 'amazingly well” with the company completing the project on time and within budget.

'We are pretty proud to be finished on time and on schedule. The workers here took great interest in the system and have learnt a lot through the training we have provided.”

The project was a collaboration between PowerSmart and energy consulting firm IT Power Australia, and was funded by a loan from New Zealand Aid and supported by the Government of Tokelau.

Last week the project won PowerSmart the Clean-tech and Sustainability section of the New Zealand Innovators Awards.

PowerSmart Managing Director Mike Bassett-Smith says the company is proud to have led the project because of the benefit it will deliver the people of Tokelau, and says the company is now preparing for more similar projects.

Mike says getting the Tokelau project ahead of companies from all over the world was a "big win" for the five-year old business.

Until recently more than 2000 barrels of diesel were used to generate electricity in Tokelau each year costing more than $1million NZD for its 1500 residents.