Nel implements cuts and temporarily stops production at Alkaline in Herøya
The Norwegian hydrogen company Nel and its subsidiaries have initiated a process to adjust capacity to market demand. As a result, the workforce is being reduced and production at the Alkaline plant in Herøya, Norway, is temporarily halted.
The company says that the market for technology and for the production of renewable hydrogen has been slower than expected for the industry in general. Order intake in 2023 and 2024 did not meet the company’s expectations and several customer projects are significantly delayed or at risk of being canceled.
The press release said,
In addition, Nel has initiated a process to retain control of delivered equipment as compensation for more than a year of overdue receivables (from an undisclosed customer), as communicated in previous financial reports.
“As a result, Nel has a limited need to produce new alkaline electrolyser equipment in the short term and will adjust its production and organizational capacity accordingly,”
The company’s CEO Håkon Volldal says these are difficult decisions to make.
He says,
This is an unfortunate situation and I regret that we now have to lay off many qualified employees,
It is mainly the Norwegian workforce in the Alkaline business segment that is affected by the cuts. 20% of full-time employees are affected. About half of them were made redundant in the fourth quarter through voluntary redundancies and termination of consultants.
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Nel implements cuts and temporarily stops production at Alkaline in Herøya, source