Green Energy Pod arrives on island

The Green Energy Pod has landed.

The Pod – a portable power station with the capacity to generate and store wind and solar energy – cleared customs on Monday and is being unpacked tomorrow.

The size of a 20-foot shipping container, the Pod arrived aboard the Southern Reef last week.

On Friday New Zealand technicians will be prepping the Pod for its debut performance next week, working to install photovoltaic panels and a wind generator.

Their aim is to give the Pod enough time to produce and store hydrogen in order that it can fuel a barbeque scheduled for ACP leaders early next week.

The Pod is the brainchild of Wellington-based company ESG Energy, executives of which have already met with Prime Minister Henry Puna to explain their product. Eight ESG executives will be attending the Forum next week.

Local liaison and marketing professional Ken Redmond, who is working with ESG to prepare the Pod’s advertising campaign, says the Pod is an opportunity for Puna to visually explain to visitors his intention to wean the Cook Islands off fossil fuels by 2020, and the means by which he plans to get there.

ESG believes that a combination of wind, photovoltaic and perhaps wave energy can supply the Cook Islands’ needs. The company is proposing that the Pod, which features wind, solar and hydrogen generation, can put the country one step closer to its outlined goal.

Company technicians believe that wind generation is not the complete solution, and that similarly photovoltaic energy is not likely to meet all the country’s needs. A combination, supported by affordable storage technology, could be the solution.

The Pod is a ”mobile amalgamation of renewable energy technologies, many of which have been developed in partnership with ESG or by local New Zealand companies“, according to the company’s briefing document.

Already GROW Wellington has pledged $100,000 toward the Pod in development grants, indicating its recognition of the Pod’s potential.

See next Tuesday’s Cook islands News for a liftout leaflet describing the workings and benefits of the Pod.