Thyssenkrupp Nucera braces for delay in US hydrogen subsidy law

Thyssenkrupp nucera's CEO stated on Tuesday that it expects the law on which it relies to subsidise the green hydrogen industry to be delayed until the U.S. Presidential election. This will make it difficult to predict the future of projects in this nascent sector.

After the Ukraine War and Germany's move away from Russian Gas, the country has concentrated on developing green hydrogen to replace it.

The industry is relying on the tax credits provided by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. However, his administration has not yet provided any details to the outline.

Werner Ponikwar, CEO of Thyssenkrupp nucera, said that it was "very unlikely" that legislation would be passed before the November elections.

After presenting the final results for the third quarter, he said to analysts: "I think that this is another one of those unknowns which makes it very difficult for us to predict how projects will progress in next year."

According to Precedence Research, the market for hydrogen generation in the United States is estimated to reach $18,3 billion in 2023. By 2033 it will grow to $31,4 billion.

Thyssenkrupp, which holds the majority stake in Nucera, scrapped last month its forecast for the alkaline-water electrolysis division. It said that ongoing uncertainty makes a forecast for now impossible.

The company reported on Tuesday that equipment orders were still at 1.3 billion euro ($1.4 billion) as of the end June. This is up from 1.2 million at the end March.

At 0835 GMT, shares, which had more than halved in value since Thyssenkrupp's Nucera listing last year were up by 1.8%.

Ponikwar has downplayed any risk of parts of IRA being repealed if Donald Trump is reelected. Trump has expressed scepticism about some clean technologies.

Ponikwar: "I believe that everyone in the U.S. also understands that there needs to be a change here, when it comes to how we use and produce energy." I would not believe someone will wipe this off the table right now. ($1 = 0.91141 euros) (Reporting and editing by Margueritachoy, Rachel More, and Barbara Lewis; Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff)

(source: Reuters)