Nel ASA’s New Electrolyzer Package Aims to Break the Financing Bottleneck as Orders Remain Elusive

Nel ASA shares retreat 7% after 82% YTD rally; weak Q1 orders and backlog contrast with new 100 MW CompassH2-A+ system and Samsung E&A unified warranty.

Nel ASA’s stock has pulled back from a 52-week peak reached just days ago, settling at €0.340 on Tradegate Thursday afternoon – a 1.6% decline on the session. The retreat follows a blistering run that lifted the Norwegian hydrogen and electrolyser specialist 81.79% since the start of the year and took it to a high of €0.366 on 25 May. But the selloff has been steady since that technical breakout, shaving roughly 7% off the share price by Thursday’s close. The stock’s recovery from a February 26 trough of €0.173 amounts to a near-doubling of 97% – a move that now looks at odds with the operating reality laid out in the company’s first-quarter figures.

For all the market’s enthusiasm, Nel’s business fundamentals tell a more cautious story. Revenue from customer contracts in the first quarter of 2026 slipped 5% to 148 million Norwegian kroner from 155 million a year earlier. The EBITDA loss narrowed to NOK 100 million from NOK 115 million, a welcome but modest improvement. Where the alarm bells ring loudest is in order intake: it collapsed 73% to just NOK 85 million, down from NOK 312 million in the prior-year period. The order backlog shrank 24% year-on-year and 16% sequentially to NOK 1.113 billion. With cash and equivalents of NOK 1.443 billion at quarter-end, Nel has a cushion – but it cannot replace new business.

Against that sobering backdrop, the company and its partner Samsung E&A have unveiled a product that directly addresses one of the sector’s most stubborn hurdles: project bankability. CompassH2-A+, presented in Rotterdam, is a 100-megawatt pressurized alkaline electrolysis solution built around containerised 25 MW stack modules. Nel claims the compact design slashes the footprint by 50%, while hydrogen emerges at 15 barg to reduce downstream compression costs. The system is designed to churn out roughly 40 tonnes of hydrogen daily at a purity of 99.999 mol percent, with a stack efficiency of 48.8 kWh per kilogram and a core area of 7,500 square metres.

The technological step-up follows an eight-year development cycle that culminated in full-scale testing at Nel’s Herøya site. But the true innovation may lie in the contractual structure: Samsung E&A is offering a single wrap guarantee covering the entire system, including the stacks. For project developers, that consolidation is a game-changer. In an industry where warranties have historically been scattered across multiple counterparties and components, a unified guarantee simplifies risk allocation and can unlock financing that previously stalled. Samsung also brings EPC expertise for downstream applications such as green ammonia, e-methanol and sustainable aviation fuel. The new platform complements CompassH2-P, launched just six months earlier, and rounds out a three-technology portfolio covering atmospheric alkaline, pressurized alkaline and PEM electrolysis.

The market has taken notice, but analysts remain unconvinced. Of 13 analysts tracked, seven rate the stock a sell, six a hold, and not one recommends buying. The message is clear: technology upgrades and financing innovations mean little without the orders to back them up. Nel has yet to demonstrate that CompassH2-A+ can convert its technical promise into signed contracts. An expected €11 million EU grant for industrialising the pressurized alkaline platform – due in the current quarter – provides some support, but it is not a substitute for commercial traction.

Nel’s next scheduled data points – the half-year report on 15 July and third-quarter numbers on 21 October – will be decisive. The stock currently sits 3.5% below its 52-week high, a zone that leaves the technical story intact while inviting questions about sustainability. The company’s Samsung alliance has handed it a powerful tool to tackle the financing gap that has long held back large-scale hydrogen projects. But without a tangible rebound in order intake, the gap between share price momentum and operational momentum will only widen.