Norwegian electrolyser and refuelling station manufacturer Nel has ordered production equipment for a second automated electrolyser manufacturing line following the startup of its Heroya facility.

Nel opened the Heroya site last month and has already delivered its first systems manufactured there. Heroya has an electrolyser production capacity of 500MW/yr, which could rise to 2GW/yr with further investment—but this is just 20pc of the 10GW/yr capacity the firm hopes to reach by 2025.

Nel has completed designs for a plant including plans for reassembled pipes, stacks and separators to bring down costs, and is looking for a site having ordered the manufacture of some key items.

“We decided yesterday to order long lead items for a new 500MW production line,” CEO Jon Andre Lokke said on a Q1 results call.

“This is the year to prepare for the future and invest” Lokke, Nel

“We have initiated site selection in Europe, and in the US… and we are also actively looking in Asia [for a site].”

The facility will manufacture both proton-exchange-membrane and alkaline electrolysers. Extending the existing facility at Heroya is one of the options being considered.

Nel raised NOK1.5bn ($172mn) in March through a private placement of shares. “This allows us to accelerate investments into both technology and the organisaion,” said Lokke. “This is the year to prepare for the future and invest—which will have a negative impact on Ebitda.”

Rising orders

The firm received orders worth NOK283mn during the first quarter, raising its order backlog 5pc from the previous quarter to NOK1.29bn.

Nel is also participating in Feed studies on five major projects—three of which are in Europe—that would total 2.7GW of electrolyser capacity if FIDs were taken.

“Most large projects that are serious start with a Feed study,” says Lokke. “It is a pretty good indication that the customer likes to work with you.”

Nel’s hydrogen fuelling division received purchase orders for several modules for fuel-cell electric vehicle projects in France, Canada and Poland. The company has 120 hydrogen refuelling stations in 14 different countries.

Lokke notes Nel had two new customers in the synthetic foods business—firms that combine hydrogen with capture-carbon to create proteins. One of these was Finnish firm Solar Foods; the other was undisclosed.

The results call was the last to be held by Lokke, who will be replaced as Nel’s CEO by Hakon Volldal.

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Author: Tom Young