On the table is an elongated model of a system with pipes, grids and all sorts of structures. Many parts are purple, which is quite unusual for industrial machines. But purple is the corporate color of Thyssenkrupp Nucera. And the model represents the electrolyzer with which the Dortmund subsidiary of the Thyssenkrupp conglomerate wants to earn a lot of money and support the energy transition.
In July, Thyssenkrupp took the subsidiary public, but still holds the majority of the shares. On Monday, Nucera boss Werner Ponikwar presented in Dortmund the first annual balance sheet after stepping onto the floor, the financial year runs until the end of September. And at the edge of the lecture room stood the model of the electrolyzer that Nucera is building. These devices are originally 40 meters long and five meters wide. They use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. If green electricity is used, the hydrogen is climate-friendly and is called green. Such green hydrogen is a pillar of the energy transition. It is intended to replace natural gas, coal and oil products in chemical factories or steelworks, in power plants or ship engines.
Electrolysers are a future market, and Nucera should play “a central role” in it, as CEO Ponikwar says. Last year, sales of hydrogen electrolysers increased more than sixfold to 323 million euros. The company also produces electrolyzers for chlorine production; revenues in this older business area have stagnated. Therefore, total sales increased by a good two thirds to 653 million euros. The bottom line was a profit of 23 million euros, more than three times as much as the previous year. The number of employees increased by a third in the twelve months and there are now 750 worldwide.
According to Ponikwar, sales are expected to grow again in the mid-double-digit percentage range in the current financial year until September 2024. This results from the orders already won for hydrogen electrolyzers that Nucera has to process. The number of jobs is also expected to increase by several hundred again. The manager also wants to automate production more and expand manufacturing capacity. Nucera can currently produce electrolysers with a total output of around 1.5 gigawatts per year. By autumn 2026, the capacity should be five gigawatts per year.
Demand is now also increasing in Germany
The investments in this expansion will result in Nucera reporting a loss before interest and taxes in the mid double-digit million range in the current financial year, according to the management board’s forecast. This announced loss did not bother the shareholders. They bought Nucera shares, which is why the price rose by almost four percent on Monday – although still below the IPO issue price of 20 euros.
Nucera’s electrolyzers are to be used, among other things, in one of the largest hydrogen projects in Europe: a climate-friendly steelworks is being built in Sweden that will not produce iron with coke and coal, but with green hydrogen. The company has also delivered the first systems that will produce hydrogen in Neom, the new city being built in Saudi Arabia. This is the world’s largest green hydrogen project.
CEO Ponikwar estimates that many new orders will be landed in the next 20 months: Nucera is currently negotiating orders worth a good eight billion euros, and two-thirds of them should be ready to be signed by autumn 2025, promises the 54-year-old. Nucera has so far pursued few projects in its home market of Germany; demand is low. “But that’s changing,” says the CEO.