Bamboo npm.load() required error

I'm using Atlassian Bamboo and Amazon Web Services as a build server and attempting to set up a build project for a web application that uses npm packages.

I'm using a slightly modified version of ami-04ccf46c, the Windows Server 2012 R2 image on Bamboo utilizing Amazon Web Services.

In my build plan, I am running a simple npm install task using a task of type npm. When I try to run the build plan, however, I receive the following in the logs:

30-Apr-2015 09:11:05 C:\opt\node-v0.10.35\node_modules\npm\lib\npm.js:32
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05 throw new Error('npm.load() required')
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05 Error: npm.load() required
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05    at Object.npm.config.get (C:\opt\node-v0.10.35\node_modules\npm\lib\npm.js:32:11)
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05    at exit (C:\opt\node-v0.10.35\node_modules\npm\lib\utils\error-handler.js:51:40)
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05    at process.errorHandler (C:\opt\node-v0.10.35\node_modules\npm\lib\utils\error-handler.js:342:3)
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05    at process.emit (events.js:95:17)
30-Apr-2015 09:11:05    at process._fatalException (node.js:295:26)

Why does npm crash? Is npm not set up properly? Do I need to set some system variable?

View any discussion on this same question posted to Atlassian Answers.

Thanks in advance.