For information only - not an official document

UNIS/OUS/062
14 January 2011

Re-issued as received

UNIDO-backed Hydrogen Energy Centre Awards Canadian Company to Build First Hydrogen Fueling Station in Turkey

VIENNA, 14 January (UN Information Service) - A hydrogen energy Centre in Turkey, supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has awarded this week Hydrogenics Corporation, a leading developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products, to build a complete electrolysis based hydrogen fueling station in Turkey.

The International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET), which was founded in Istanbul in 2004 and is supported by UNIDO and the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, said the station will be capable of producing 65 kilograms of hydrogen per day.

It will be located at the Golden Horn, the historic inlet of the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, and be used for both land and sea transportation applications.

"Our Golden Horn Hydrogen production and refueling facility will be the first of its kind to refuel both land and water transportation vehicles and will firmly put Istanbul on the map of cities with major hydrogen refueling infrastructures," said ICHET Associate Director for Projects, Nicolas Lymberopoulos.

"Parallel to the station we are also involved in collaboration with partners from Turkey and abroad in the development of its "clients", namely a hydrogen fuelled bus and a hydrogen ship. In the near future the facility will also serve private vehicles that are currently in the last stages of development by car manufacturers."

ICHET seeks to initiate projects in the developing world that establish or enhance hydrogen production from indigenous - and preferably renewable -- energy resources so that hydrogen can take a far more important role in the satisfaction of local energy needs.

"We are pleased to have been awarded Turkey's first hydrogen fueling station in a competitive tendering process that demonstrated Hydrogenics' ability to respond to the increase in market interest for Hydrogen Fueling Stations in Europe," said Daryl Wilson, Hydrogenics President and CEO.

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For more information on ICHET visit www.unido-ichet.org

For more information on the Hydrogenics Corporation visit www.hydrogenics.com

For more information on UNIDO contact:

Mikhail Evstafyev
UNIDO Advocacy and Communications Coordinator
Telephone: (+43-1) 26026-5021
Mobile: (+43-699) 1459-7329
Email: m.evstafyev@unido.org