New Energies, new possibilities

The market for renewable hydrogen production technology has been slower than expected for the industry in general, including Nel. Order intake in 2023 and 2024 fell short of expectations, and several customer projects are significantly delayed or are at risk of being cancelled. In addition, Nel has initiated a process to retain control over delivered equipment as compensation for more than one-year overdue receivables as communicated in previous financial reports. As a result, Nel has limited need to produce new alkaline electrolyser equipment in the near term and will adjust its production and organizational capacity correspondingly.

“While the long-term outlook for clean hydrogen remains strong, we must make some tough decisions today based on lower order intake in 2024 than expected,” said Nel’s President and CEO, Håkon Volldal. “This is an unfortunate situation, and I’m sorry that we now have to let go of many qualified people.”

Nel has decided to halt production in Herøya temporarily. This will predominantly impact the Norwegian workforce in the alkaline business segment. The planned reductions will affect roughly 20% of the full-time employees reported at the end of the third quarter of 2024. Approximately half of the reductions have already been executed in the fourth quarter of 2024 through voluntary resignations and termination of consultants.

“The company remains well financed, and with these actions we will preserve cash while still being able to aggressively pursue sales opportunities and invest in technology development,” said Kjell Christian Bjørnsen, CFO of Nel.

Nel continues to see a strong pipeline of clean hydrogen projects and is actively working on several concrete bids, including projects where Nel is currently undertaking paid front-end engineering design (FEED) studies. Nel also sees good near-term opportunities to sell containerized PEM systems. The company will also continue to further develop its current and next-generation technology platforms.

Nel has secured $29m in additional investment tax credits for its planned electrolyser gigafactory in Michigan, US, bringing its total funding to around $200m.

The extra funding came as part of the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit (48C) programme, which is funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and managed by the US Department of Energy, Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.

Nel has yet to make a final investment decision (FID) on its 4GW factory, which is expected to be worth $400m. In an online statement, the Norwegian company said the “build-out of the site depends on demand.”

Announced in 2023, the facility is scheduled to produce both alkaline and PEM electrolyser technology. Its 4GW output would make it one of the world’s largest manufacturing plants. However, with President-Elect Donald Trump set to enter office in a week’s time, concerns are mounting over the potential shift in policy direction, raising fears that the US could lose momentum on its clean energy advancements.

Concerns range from the potential complete repeal of key legislation, like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), to a more cautious approach where only select climate provisions may be cut. The Trump-Vance administration could adopt an “all-of-the-above” strategy, making isolated cuts to the IRA’s climate provisions while keeping elements that align with the administration’s broader policy goals.

Nevertheless, Nel is continuing to lead the technology shift in the US. Last October, the electrolyser manufacturer completed the expansion of its PEM factory in Connecticut, increasing its annual capacity from 50 to 500MW.

https://www.h2-view.com/story/nel-secures-29m-ira-tax-credit-boost-for-4gw-electrolyser-factory-in-michigan/2119573.article/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Daily%20Hydrogen%20Highlights&utm_content=Daily%20Daily%20Hydrogen%20Highlights+CID_31ac40c4ada358892f4cf941bb4373b9&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Nel%20secures%2029m%20IRA%20tax%20credit%20boost%20for%204GW%20electrolyser%20factory%20in%20Michigan

Japanese chemicals and materials science group Asahi Kasei Corp (TYO:3407) has secured governmental support of up to JPY 11.4 billion (USD 72m/EUR 70m) to increase its manufacturing capacity for components used in the production of green hydrogen.

The company intends to build new plants for both cell frames and membranes for electrolysers, it said. The facilities will have a manufacturing capacity of at least 2 GW each and should be established at Asahi Kasei’s site in Kawasaki, Japan, by 2028.

The government support will cover a substantial part of the project’s total costs estimated at JPY 35 billion.

The expansion is expected to bring Asahi Kasei’s total annual capacity for cell frames and membranes to more than 3 GW.

With the project, Asahi Kasei aims to establish a stable domestic manufacturing supply chain for technologies that will help Japan reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

According to data cited by the company, the annual installed capacity of water electrolysers is expected to rise to 31 GW globally by 2030 as hydrogen is seen as a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels.

Asahi Kasei aims for a 20% share of the world’s major water electrolysis equipment markets, primarily in Europe, North America, and India, by around 2030, Masami Takenaka, lead executive officer of Asahi Kasei, noted in the statement.

(JPY 1 = USD 0.006/EUR 0.006)

Asahi Kasei wins financing for hydrogen production equipment project | Hydrogen News | Renewables Now

A group of Chinese companies just completed the first test flight of a 2646 lbs (~1118 kg) VTOL drone powered by liquid hydrogen. They ran the test on January 9 in Baoji City’s Fengxiang High-tech Industrial Development Zone, and it’s a major leap forward in greener aviation technology.

They call this aircraft the DF600 “Jinghong.” It was put together by Shaanxi Tongchen Heguang Cryogenic Technology, Dream Chaser Aerospace Technology, and Beijing Jiaqing New Energy Technology. The drone’s stats are pretty impressive—it weighs around 2646 lbs at takeoff and can lug a payload of 265 to 353 lbs.

Thanks to its liquid hydrogen propulsion system, the drone promises significantly better performance than those running on regular aviation fuel or batteries. It’s expected to fly over 621 miles on a single trip, making it a promising option for long-range commercial uses.

Each partner played a specific role. Dream Chaser Aerospace, started by a team from Tsinghua University, developed the hybrid tilt-rotor platform for the UAV. Tongchen Cryogenics, founded in July 2023 with Xi’an Jiaotong University, handled liquid hydrogen storage and supply. Beijing Jiaqing, working alongside Tsinghua, provided the high-power air-cooled fuel cell system.

After the success of this test flight, officials in Shaanxi plan to broaden liquid hydrogen’s reach across different transportation sectors and build up a full-scale industry for hydrogen production, refueling, storage, transport, and real-world applications.

Chinese companies successfully test 621-mile-range liquid hydrogen VTOL drone - NotebookCheck.net News