Nel ASA’s Rally Takes a Breather as Global Hydrogen Pipeline Swells

Nel ASA shares ease to €0.30 after a 66% rally, but strong Q1 results, global hydrogen projects, and an RSI of 31 suggest further upside potential.

Nel ASA’s recent surge has hit a pause button, but the underlying story is far from static. After rocketing nearly 66% from its 52-week low of €0.18 in early March to a fresh high of €0.32 on Tuesday, the Norwegian electrolyser specialist saw its shares ease back to €0.30 on Wednesday. Market participants are calling it a healthy consolidation rather than a reversal, especially with the relative strength index hovering at 31.1—a level that suggests the stock is drifting toward oversold territory rather than flashing exhaustion.

The first-quarter numbers provide a solid foundation for the optimism. Nel trimmed its net loss to 144 million Norwegian kroner, a tangible improvement that reflects management’s ongoing cost restructuring efforts. Operating margins are inching higher, and the company is demonstrating that it can tighten its belt without sacrificing its position in a rapidly expanding market.

What’s really driving the narrative, however, is the sheer scale of global hydrogen infrastructure taking shape. China is currently building out capacity for 900,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually. Oman launched a tender for a hydrogen-capable power plant with up to one gigawatt of capacity—a move that coincided neatly with Nel’s recent rally. Shell is on the verge of starting its Holland Hydrogen 1 project in Rotterdam, a 200 MW facility designed to produce 60,000 kilograms of green hydrogen daily for industrial use. And in Kazakhstan, the Hyrasia One project is targeting 20 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity by 2030.

These aren’t pilot plants anymore. The sector is moving past the experimental phase into full-scale deployment, and that shift creates a more predictable business environment for technology providers like Nel. Every gigawatt-scale tender represents a potential hardware order, and Nel’s PEM and alkaline electrolyser platforms are squarely in the frame.

The research front is adding another layer of demand. The Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) recently unveiled a concept for the world’s largest PEM fuel cell stack for emission-free shipping. That development underscores how hydrogen technology is branching out from industrial applications into maritime transport, widening Nel’s addressable market.

Technically, the stock has left its moving averages in the dust. The 200-day average sits at roughly €0.20, meaning the current price is about 57% above that benchmark. The RSI reading of 31 suggests the recent pullback hasn’t triggered any overbought signals, leaving room for another leg higher if the macro backdrop holds.

The real test, as always, will be conversion. Nel’s ability to turn this pipeline of international projects into signed contracts will determine whether the stock can sustain its momentum. The coming quarterly reports will offer the first hard evidence of whether the hype is translating into revenue. For now, the market is giving Nel the benefit of the doubt—but the clock is ticking on delivery.