UNIDO-ICHET's New-Delhi hydrogen three-wheelers project has been the subject of an article published in the Financial Times on February 15, 2010.

President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UNIDO Director General Kandeh Yumkella - among other personalities - met with representatives of the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET) in the Abu Dhabi World Future Energy Summit (WFES 2010) which took place in the Capital City of the United Arab Emeritates from 18 to 21 January 2010.
On 18 January, ICHET representatives received in the Centre's booth a Turkish delegation led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who had delivered a keynote speech at the opening session of the summit earlier that day - Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız, Minister of State Zafer Caglayan and Minister of Finance Mr. Mehmet Şimşek. There, ICHET Managing Director Dr. Mustafa Hatipoglu gave them brief information on the Centre's current hydrogen energy projects. PM Erdogan expressed his continued interest in ICHET activities and renewed his appreciation of the support provided by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.
On the closing day, the President of Iceland Dr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson visited ICHET booth and noted the progresses in ICHET project implementation since his latest encounter with Dr. Hatipoglu at the occasion of a meeting of the Hydrogen Society in 2008 in Reykjavik.
He was later followed by Director General of UNIDO Dr. Kandeh Yumkella and Director of the UNIDO Energy and Climate Change Branch Dr. Pradeep Monga who expressed their confidence of the numerous projects currently led by the Centre.
The WFES 2010 event has also been the occasion for ICHET to meet with administrators of the Masdar City project and to envision with them the implementation of hydrogen ernergy solution in the domain of transportation, mobile housing and backup power systems in the renewable energy city.

On Wednesday 13 January 2010, ICHET hosted in its Istanbul offices a meeting between its own Directors, the Director of the UNIDO Centre for Regional Cooperation Suleyman Yılmaz and UNDP Turkey Programme Manager for Environment & Sustainable Development Dr. Katalin Zaim. This meeting marked the beginning of a tighter collaboration between UNDP and ICHET in order to publicize ICHET activities and support programmes through the distribution of ICHET promotional material within the UNDP network.

ICHET is currently demonstrating its hydrogen house and land vehicle project at Renex 2009, a renewable energy fair which is currently taking place in Istanbul Expo Centre.

ICHET Associate Director for Projects and Programmes Dr. Nicolas Lymberopoulos and ICHET Senior Consultant Dr. Frano Barbir participated to the Global Renewable Energy Forum on 7-9 October 2009 in Mexico. This UNIDO event consisting of pannel discussions andan exhibition gathered 500 decision makers and scientists in Leon- 350 km north from Mexico City - around the moto "scaling up renewable energy". Dr. Lymberopoulos made a remarkable presentation on hydrogen energy and the role and activities of ICHET.

A few week before UNIDO's full integration to the Hydrogen Implementation Agreement of the International Energy Agency (IEA-HIA), which is to take place in November 2009, a IEA-HIA team visited ICHET facilities in Istanbul on 14 October 2009. These 12 scientists and industrialists from Task 23 (small scale reformers for on-site hydrogen supply) presented their activities and were introduced to those of ICHET. UNIDO will be represented in IEA-HIA Executive Committee by ICHET Associate Director for Projects and Programmes Dr. Nicolas Lymberopoulos. ICHET will also directly participate to IEA-HIA Tasks 18 (Integrated Systems Evaluation) & 24 (Wind Energy and Hydrogen Intergration).

ICHET demonstrated its hydrogen fuel cell forkift and passenger cart at the International Energy Congress 2009 “Renewable Energy” which was held on 8-9 October 2009 at the Sheraton Ankara Hotel & Convention Center. The event was jointly organized by the Global Energy Association and the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.
ICHET Managing Director Dr. Mustafa Hatipoğlu introduced ICHET activities during the session on "New Dimensions of Renewable Energy: Hydrogen Energy, Geothermal Energy".

Representatives from the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies proceeded to visit local authorities and partners last July 20 and 21 within the framework of a new consultancy project.
In collaboration with the Turkish State Hydraulic Works agency (DSI), the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies has undertaken the feasibility study of a hybrid energy facility located in the Edirne district of Turkey, close to the Bulgarian border.

This project includes the following three components:

• energy production: a 11MW pumped hydro power station (see animation) and 6 wind turbines for a total 6MW power are to be installed;
• irrigation: water from the lower reservoir will be distributed to surrounding corn, sunflower and rice fields for a planned total 30km2 of irrigated land;
• hydrogen production: part of the produced energy will be converted into hydrogen through electrolysis with an expected yield of about 4kg/day. The produced hydrogen will be stored in the facilities and fed on demand to a 10kW fuel cell which is to power the electric appliances. A hydrogen cooker will also be fitted in the kitchen facilities.

This visit has provided the opportunity to discuss and select various scenarios elaborated by the ICHET engineers. The selected configuration is now being refined for evaluation during a forthcoming meeting which is to take place by the end of August.

An international group of students took a training on fuel cell technologies and their applications last Thursday, July 9th, in the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET) in Istanbul. Headed by Dr. Derek Baker, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Middle-East Technical University (METU), Ankara, these 32 students - 11 American students from Texas and Penn State Universities, 21 Turkish students from METU - visited ICHET as part of Dr. Baker's Summer class on Fuel Cell Fundamentals. Following a 3 hours lecture on fuel cells, they discovered the Centre's fuel cell application projects and, after lunch, were given a thorough visit of its fuel cell testing facilities.

ICHET is looking for an Engineering Service Contractor able to proceed to the integration of given components into a truck in order to produce Turkey’s first mobile hydrogen refuelling station. This truck will be able to provide hydrogen in various locations as needed for different applications. Previous integration experience is a must.
Please send your offer complying with the given technical specifications to Dr. Suha Yazici.