Mohamed Nasheed, president of the Maldives, put a hard hat on this morning and climbed onto the roof of his aged mansion to help construction workers outfit it with photovoltaic solar panels.

The system that will provide 11.5 kilowatts of power to his home in the most densely populated part of this island nation in the Indian Ocean should be online and generating power by the beginning of next week.

Nasheed was the first head of state in the world to accept an offer to have solar panels installed for free by the United States-based environmental organization 350.

Danny Kennedy, founder and CEO of Sungevity, has been in the Maldives the last two weeks working with crews to install the panels.

“It all came out of the whole White House thing,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy went with 350 founder Bill McKibben to offer free panels to Barack Obama’s administration in April. Obama announced earlier this week that he will install panels on the White House roof by next spring, though not free ones.

“And then we figured, why don’t we put solar on all the heads of state around the world,” Kennedy said. “So we reached out to tons of leaders. President Nasheed accepted our offer.”

The organization coordinated the donation of 48 photovoltaic panels and building supplies. Sungevity donated the labor and installation expertise. Kennedy said he’s also been training people on the island in solar installation and maintenance.

The Maldives, a chain of almost 1,100 choral islands, is the lowest country in the world. As ocean levels rise, the country is at risk of disappearing. That has made the country’s leader especially keen on global warming research and prevention.

“President Nasheed is really serious about trying to do something and about modeling the behavior,” Kennedy said. “He wants to lead by example.”

The president’s mansion is an older building and not very well insulated, Kennedy said. As part of this project, the mansion is getting an energy audit to improve efficiency.

As the country is run on expensive small power generators, the new solar power system is expected to save the president roughly $300,000, Kennedy said.

“It’s a gift that keeps on giving,” he added.

It’s unlikely the system will ever produce more than the large home needs to maintain its air conditioning and security systems, Kennedy said. But it is grid connected and could feed back into the country’s small power grid.

Nasheed began discussions with 350 in August, Kennedy said. And the organization was able to prepare everything and get it shipped from the other side of the globe for installation in less than two months.

“It’s a pretty cool thing,” Kennedy said. “It really shows how simple it is to put solar on your roof. This is proof it can be easy.”

Pictured: Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed helps with the installation of his new solar panel system. Photo taken by Mohamed Ali for Presidency Maldives.