The use of hydrogen power might still be a year away but the concept was swallowed by many at the Sustainable Energy For All lunch yesterday.

The feast was highlighted by a hydrogen-powered barbeque that cooked sausages and venison for the hundreds of Pacific Leaders Forum attendees.

The unit, in its proof of concept stage, is part of the Pod – a portable renewable power station that has the capacity to store wind and solar energy.

Dennis Hill, one of the Lower Hutt-based ESG Energy team behind the head-turning creation, said the emphasis was on the potential for hydrogen power to be converted into heat energy.

A cabinet maker by trade, Hill said there had been plenty of feedback on the barbeque.

”Prime Minister [Henry] Puna even gave me a nod of approval,“ he quipped.

The use of hydrogen-powered renewable energy systems would still be a year away because the electrolyser – central to the project’s ability to function – is still a year away from being commercially available.

The electrolyser splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere while the hydrogen is stored in a plastic cylinder underground and is used when needed.

”The prime aim is for cooking and water heating. Anything you can use gas for you can use hydrogen.“

Electrical manager Tony Pearson said renewable energy stations that involved other forms of renewable energy such as wind solar were also being investigated for the Cook Islands.

”What we’re looking at doing is a containerised system installed around Rarotonga. It would be a combination of wind and solar with a battery backup,“ Pearson said.

Pearson referred to Matiu/Somes Island, a small island in the Wellington harbour that installed a new renewable energy system based on wind and solar energy to provide power to five houses and the motel that was situated there.

The structure on the island cost $250,000 and transformed the site from running on expensive and environmentally dangerous diesel to only using it at a bare minimum.

”The range was very similar to the offshore islands here,“ Pearson said. ”Instead of running the diesel all the time they now use it once a week for two hours.“

The cost of going ”completely renewable“ – with no reliance on diesel whatsoever – was too expensive to set up, he said.

”The cost of that last 10 percent of renewable energy is very expensive. The infrastructure is usually wasteful.“

The Pod has been keeping up appearances frequently throughout the forum already. The machine was shown off to the public at the Clean and Green Industry Showcase on Monday as well as the opening ceremony last night.

A letter from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was read out while Puna also made a speech that signalled an end of ”gloating“ fuel costs and shipping constraints.

”Those days are coming to an end,“ Puna said.

”The light that you see at the end of the long tunnel is sunlight, which is a source of renewable energy that will power us into the future.“