Five staff members from a Marton-based company got a taste of life on a remote island earlier this year when they travelled to Pitt Island/Rangiauria to install a new electricity system.
The Downs Group, an electrical and mechanical contracting company, was tasked with installing a "Base Power" supply unit to provide the island's school with more reliable electricity.
Pitt Island/Rangiauria, the second-largest island of the Chatham Archipelago, lies around 23km south of Chatham Island, and 770km east of the New Zealand mainland.
The school is the hub of the community of only 21 households, and has been plagued by power issues in the past.
Pitt Island School principal Wendy Bishell said that with no electricity network on the island, the school relied on solar panels and a generator to charge batteries, which were unreliable and cost around $13,000 a year in diesel alone.