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'Hydrogen refuelling is an
industry-wide challenge'
Problems with our 'immature' H2 pumps are not specific to us, says
Nel
Norwegian electrolyser
maker takes a $32m writedown on its struggling fuelling business and
warns of
continuing high costs due to 'quality not being good enough'
28 Feb, 2023
By Agnete
Klevstrand
![](images/images_03_03_2023/pic%205.jpg)
A 3D rendering of a Nel hydrogen-dispensing fuel pump.Photo:
Nel
One of the world's leading
electrolyser makers, Nel, has revealed it has taken a $32m writedown
on its hydrogen fuelling business due to ongoing problems with its
“immature” equipment, but says the entire industry is experiencing
similar issues.
In a presentation about its 2022 results this
morning, chief executive Håkon Volldal told analysts and investors that
revenues from this business segment fell by 26% last year, and that it
will continue to incur high costs going forward — including on service
contracts on stations that have already been installed.
“I think it's fair to say that the technology that
was installed was immature, and that the quality was not good enough, and
we struggle with all the work we have to do in order to keep these
stations running, to fix issues, to send personnel out on site,” said
Volldal, who joined the company in July last year.
“An unfocused market approach has led to high organisational and
operational complexity, and that drives cost. We have tried to do
everything for everybody, everywhere, and that's expensive. We have
immature and non-standardised technology that we put out there and that
has resulted in high costs which basically increase with higher station
utilisation — so the more the stations are being used, the higher the cost
for Nel.”
![](images/images_03_03_2023/pic%206.jpg)
Nel CEO Håkon Volldal. Photo: Nel
He continued: “So then why are we in fuelling, you
might ask? Well, we believe that the market potential for heavy-duty
fuelling [ie, trucks and buses] is high. Global efforts to decarbonise the
transport sector increases demand for high capacity hydrogen fuelling
stations, and this is probably the most important reason we are still in
fuelling, and why we sort of see a future fuelling.
“Some of the largest energy companies in the world
are Nel customers, and they have made long-term commitments to developing
this infrastructure. They are working with us, they are being patient,
they want this to work. They're not running away and I might add [that],
fortunately, even though we have our problems, Nel is still considered one
of the best providers of fuelling technology in the industry, so this is
not Nel-specific. This is an industry challenge that we are working
together with some of the largest energy companies in the world to fix.”
Hydrogen filling stations have been notoriously unreliable around the
world. In California, one of the planet's biggest markets for fuel-cell
vehicles, pumps frequently break down or run out of fuel, leaving hydrogen
cars stranded and unable to refuel, or with nozzles frozen solid to
vehicles, with customers begging Toyota to let them return their vehicles.
And in South Korea, a government report in 2021 revealed that the
country’s 12 motorway hydrogen filling stations broke down a total of 221
times between April 2019 and August 2021.
And in January, loss-making UK electrolyser maker ITM Power revealed that
it wanted to exit its Motive Fuels refuelling joint venture with Vitol,
stating that the “landscape had changed... with lower availability of
heavy-duty hydrogen vehicles than originally anticipated, adversely
affecting fuelling asset utilisation.”
Previously, Nel focused on hydrogen fuelling for cars — a market that has
failed to grow beyond a tiny niche — and also customised equipment for a
wide range of customers. Now, the company will focus purely on “high
capacity and trailer filling” and standard products to high-volume
clients.
“So not a ton of different customers with different requirements, but a
few higher volume accounts that we can work with,” Volldal explained.
“We had a broad product range. Too many products and everything developed
in-house, including pressure compression from 50 to 1000 bar. That's not a
good idea. So in the future we will have a single product platform. We
will have core technologies in-house. So high-pressure compression, but
not from 50 to 1000 bar, but from 300 to 1000 bars control and cooling.”
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
www.exactrix.com
509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
Nathan1@greenplayammonia.com
exactrix@exactrix.com
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