Donors have committed over NZD$1 billion for sustainable energy projects in the Pacific after a Pacific Energy Conference completed in Auckland on 7 June.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Hon Murray McCully said the investments and funding will support Polynesia to achieve more than 50 percent renewable energy by 2024 and provide access to electricity for an estimated one million people in Melanesia. It will help other countries in the region double their renewable energy generation.

Investors included conference hosts New Zealand Government, the European Union, Asian Development Bank, World Bank Group, Japan, United Arab Emirates and Australia.

He said New Zealand had agreed to provide a further $100 million to energy projects in nine Pacific countries, bringing their total contribution to $220 million, he said.

Since 2013, New Zealand and the EU have partnered to deliver renewable energy projects in Tuvalu, Samoa, Cook Islands and Kiribati. A total of $635 million was committed at the Pacific Energy Summit then has translated into over $900 million of investments across 70 projects.

Neven Mimica EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development welcomed the expansion of this partnership.

"I am particularly pleased to have signed with NZ a joint declaration of cooperation on a Pacific Partnership for Sustainable Energy. It signals our commitment to expand the scope of our close cooperation on renewable energy to benefit among others, Tonga, Niue and Northern Pacific."