Abstract: This study present a number of experimental renewable energy systems with hydrogen energy buffering. The first generation of systems demonstrated that hydrogen could be generated from surplus renewable input power through water electrolysis and stored for both short-term and seasonal energy buffering. They illustrated that a continuous supply of power can be derived from an intermittent renewable energy source coupled to the appropriate hydrogen conversion devices. However, the test-beds were constructed primarily from custom components often one-off prototypes and were plagued with reliability issues. Energy self sufficiency was for the most part not obtained due to the limited energy generated from the renewable sources coupled with poor component efficiencies and large parasitic system loads. All of the demonstration projects report major operational problems with the fuel cells used in the regenerative subsystem. They revealed that significant advances in electrolyser, fuel cells, hydrogen storage and power conditioning technologies were required before reliable system operation could be achieved.