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Thyssenkrupp Nucera has reported a drop in demand for the equipment it supplies to develop green hydrogen, the latest evidence that the nascent technology aimed at cutting emissions risks losing momentum.
The Frankfurt-listed company, spun out of German industrial group Thyssenkrupp last year, said that potential customers in Europe and North America were holding off on projects while they wait for governments to finalise financial support.
“The situation is causing a level of uncertainty in the market and is therefore dampening investment momentum,” said Christoph Noeres, head of green hydrogen at the group. “Obstacles to investment such as the design of regulatory requirements and the pace of funding commitments should be removed quickly,” he added.
The EU, the US and the UK are among those backing the development of green hydrogen, which has been championed as a fuel for energy-intensive industries, transport and power stations.
Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced by splitting it from water using electricity generated from renewable sources. Thyssenkrupp Nucera manufactures the electrolyser systems used in the process.
Orders for the equipment fell 26 per cent in six months to the end of March to €120.8mn. The company slumped to a net loss of €4.4mn in the period, compared with €12.1mn profit in the same period last year.
Arno Pfannschmidt, chief financial officer, said he remained confident in the green hydrogen market and expected orders to pick up.
Nevertheless, the group’s shares were down 7 per cent on Wednesday, leaving them down almost 50 per cent since the group listed.
Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s caution echoes that of Engie, the French state-backed utility and Spanish energy group Iberdrola. In March, Engie pushed back its targets for installed electrolyser capacity by five years to 2035.
In the same month, Iberdrola cut its goal for the amount of green hydrogen it would produce by 2030 by roughly two-thirds.
José Sainz Armada, chief financial officer, told investors that the company would “love to do more projects” but is “waiting for the funds to come through for the projects we have presented”.
The European Commission has set a target of producing 10mn tonnes of green hydrogen within the EU by 2030 and to import another 10mn tonnes, while the US is heavily subsidising the technology.
Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s customers include the vast Neom project in Saudi Arabia, which is being developed by companies including Acwa Power to produce 600 tonnes of green hydrogen a day when it starts up in 2026.
