Europe's largest electrolyser and fuel cell development company, ITM Power, will join oil giants Chevron and Shell as a platinum sponsor of the NHA Annual Hydrogen Conference to be staged in Sacramento, California. The National Hydrogen Association's 19th conference being staged between March 30th and April 4th will attract energy professionals from a wide range of industries and service sectors interested in the latest developments in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

ITM Power is due to open one of Europe's first fuel cell and electrolyser manufacturing facilities in Sheffield next year and has recently announced an agreement with aerospace giant Boeing for the design of an environmentally-friendly refuelling station for fuel cell powered unmanned aircraft. The Company is also developing a hydrogen home refuelling station for cars and testing both the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel source for internal combustion engines and its benefits as a mixture of hydrogen burned with diesel.

Jim Heathcote, CEO of ITM Power and one of the keynote speakers at the Sacramento event:

"This is the world's biggest gathering for those involved in efforts to deliver hydrogen solutions to many of our current problems such as climate change caused by CO2 emissions and diminishing supplies of increasingly expensive fossil fuels. Never has the need for hydrogen been so crucial and the conference's title 'Ramping up ommercialisation' perfectly illustrates ITM Power's role in bringing new hydrogen-based technologies to the market.

"We are delighted to be a major sponsor of the Sacramento event and fully expect this to be the most significant conference on hydrogen power, fuel cell and electrolyser developments in 2008. "

ITM Power is a developer of low-cost hydrogen technologies. The Company has developed new materials and processes that dramatically reduce the cost of fuel cells and electrolysers. The patented membrane materials used in the devices have higher performance and are 1% of the cost of the industry standard materials.

Electrolysers work by converting water and electricity into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen produced can be used as a replacement for fossil fuels and facilitate zero carbon housing and pollution free motoring.

ITM Power was founded in 2000 and floated on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market in June 2004.