Nucera: Green Dividends at Hydrogen Company Nucera – Economics

Hydrogen company Thyssenkrupp Nucera delivered decent post-IPO numbers. The Dortmund-based company manufactures electrolyzers, which are systems that use electricity to produce hydrogen. Parent company Thyssenkrupp acquired a minority stake in the subsidiary in early July. On Monday, Nucera CEO Werner Bonequar presented the numbers for the past quarter. As a result, sales increasedAnd profit and demand intake significantly.

Nucera wants to be among the beneficiaries of the energy transition. Because the demand for so-called green hydrogen is expected to increase sharply in the coming years – and with it the demand for electrolyzers. A molecule is considered green when the electrolyzer uses green electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. These climate-friendly molecules should replace natural gas, coal and oil in chemical plants, steel mills, power plants or ship propulsion systems. Bonicoare said Nucera is “really well positioned” for this direction. In addition, we are working “at full speed to further improve technology and production and expand our capabilities”.

The CEO plans to increase this production capacity fivefold by 2025, while lowering production costs at the same time. And then at Nucera, electrolyzers with a total output of five gigawatts should be able to roll off the production line. For comparison: in its national hydrogen strategy, the federal government stipulates that electrolyzers with an output of at least ten gigawatts of hydrogen will be produced in Germany in 2030.

This growth was financed by an IPO, with €526 million flowing into Nucera. The former sole proprietor remains major shareholders: Thyssenkrupp now owns a good 50 per cent of the shares, and Italian mechanical engineering firm De Nora around 26 per cent. In addition, since getting off the ground, there has been a third major shareholder, the subsidiary of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which owns six percent of the shares.

Steel mills want green production

Saudi Arabia was previously a customer of Nucera. The Dortmund-based company is set to deliver a massive electrolysis system with more than 2 gigawatts of power to Neum, a new city being built there. Another major project for Nucera is the construction of a 700-plus MW plant in northern Sweden to supply a planned steel plant operating in a climate-friendly manner. Ironically, this plant will compete with the Duisburg steel plant of Nucera’s sister company Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe. This plant also wants to produce climate-friendly steel in the future. For this purpose, one of the four furnaces will be replaced by a plant that will produce pig iron with green hydrogen instead of coke and coal.

In addition to the green hydrogen electrolyzer, Nucera also manufactures chlor-alkali electrolysis plants, where chlor-alkali is produced. However, last quarter was the first in which the promising green hydrogen electrolyzer business generated more sales than the chlor-alkali machinery business. This is due to an eleven-fold increase in sales in the green sector compared to the same period last year.

Overall, the company’s quarterly revenue increased by 90 percent to 187 million euros. The bottom line is that the profit doubled to six million euros. The number of employees rose from 490 to 630 in nine months, mainly in Germany, the United States and Italy. “Another strong global increase in headcount is planned and necessary in order to achieve our growth targets,” Bonekwar said.