Teco 2030, Norway’s leading fuel cell company, has been confirmed bankrupt on the stock exchange. The company’s collapse began last month when parts of its business went bankrupt due to a lack of investor support for the hydrogen industry.
“With no opportunity to raise sufficient funds to sustain operations, the company’s board of directors has unanimously decided to file for insolvency,” Teco 2030 wrote in an Oslo Stock Exchange briefing filed late on December 10.
Teco 2030 was founded in 2019 as a subsidiary of the TECO maritime group with the goal of using fuel cells to power the maritime industry. The company focuses on maritime applications of fuel cells and has received important grants and several early projects. The company has produced a demonstration model of the first PEM hydrogen fuel cell stack design. Since being spun off from the TECO maritime group as an independent company in 2021, Teco 2030 has lost nearly $30 million.
Teco 2030 was scheduled to participate in a project to retrofit a 4,900 dwt ro-ro cargo vessel, the Samskip Kvitnos, with a hydrogen-powered propulsion system, which was launched in 2024, and in 2023 it signed a Letter of Intent with Pherousa Green Shipping to develop and supply fuel cells for a new generation of bulk carriers.
“We are incredibly sad for everyone in the group who has lost their jobs, and those who have supported us financially who are losing theirs. But it comes to a point where we have turned over every stone,” CEO Tore Enger told the Norwegian media outlet E24.
Tore Enger adds that the challenges facing Teco 2030 are indicative of slowing support for the hydrogen and green industry as a whole. Investment in green projects in Norway and Europe has stagnated, with declining interest from both private investors and governments.Teco 2030 will require at least $35 million in investment to get the factory up and running again. The market for the sector has slowed down and governments have failed to provide enough support to push the technology forward. He emphasized that other companies, including Equinor, are also scaling back their green projects.
The Norwegian Tax Administration initiated insolvency proceedings against several of the company’s subsidiaries in late October and early November. At that time, Teco 2030 said it was limited to those subsidiaries, but as the problem spread further last month, the company said it was a “sensitive period”.
Teco 2030 has been struggling for most of 2024 due to its deteriorating financial situation. The company announced a reorganization plan, but according to media reports, at times the company was only able to pay 75% of its employees’ salaries. Creditors even included the owners of its offices and production facilities in Narvik. At one point, the leaseholders corporate guarantee because of the subsidiary’s inability to pay.