Türkiye working on hydrogen ecosystem: Minister

ANKARA

Türkiye is working to develop its indigenous hydrogen ecosystem and local hydrogen industry, Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez has said, adding that studies are also underway for hydrogen fuel.

Producing hydrogen from coal extracted in Türkiye is one of the fields in which the country could make progress, the minister said, speaking at the International Boron Symposium held in Istanbul on Oct. 5.

The minister stressed that presently costs are high but as technology develops hydrogen-related products will become more accessible.

Research centers and public and private sectors can team up to develop a local hydrogen ecosystem and Türkiye could become a pioneering country that develops new technologies, he said.

“Using hydrogen as a fuel is one of our main targets. All the design, production and integration work under the hydrogen fuel cell project, which is carried out jointly by BOREN, Gen Otomobil and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) have been successfully completed,” the minister added, noting that hydrogen was used as fuel in the project.

A new generation car concept, which has a longer range compared with electric vehicles, has been developed locally, he said.

Dönmez also said that within this year, construction work will begin to build two new lithium facilities with 700 tons of capacity, one in the town of Kırka in the province of Eskişehir and one in the district of Bandırma.

Once those plants come online, Türkiye will be able to meet more than half of its annual lithium needs, according to the minister.

A ferroboron plant in Bandırma with an annual capacity of 800 tons will become operational toward the end of next year, Dönmez also said.

Energy transformation

Türkiye has completed the first phase in the energy transformation and upgraded its energy infrastructure, the minister added.

“What we are experiencing now is the second phase [in the transformation]. We are bolstering our clean energy production and development of technologies within our green development targets. The next stage will move forward from what we have built until now.”

Türkiye’s next energy transformation will not be about the transition to new resources but about the transition to new technologies, such as renewables, including solar and wind power, as well as nuclear energy, locally developed lithium and storage technologies, Dönmez said.