跟踪低碳氢价值链公司的标普Kensho全球氢经济指数，Due to negative factors such as lower-than-expected demand, regulatory uncertainty, and poor performance, the stock prices of multiple hydrogen energy companies like Plug Power have almost halved since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, nuclear power has gained favor from the capital, with Small Modular Reactor (SMR) developer NuScale Power rising by 486% from the beginning of the year to date.
Due to negative factors such as lower-than-expected demand, regulatory uncertainty, and poor performance, the stock price of hydrogen energy companies in Europe and the United States plummeted, contrasting sharply with the hot nuclear power stocks.
Under consecutive quarters of losses, companies like Plug Power, Ballard Power Systems, and Green Hydrogen Systems in the hydrogen energy sector have seen their stock prices nearly halved since the beginning of the year, falling to historic lows. Companies like Nel, Bloom Energy, and ITM Power have also experienced around a one-third drop in their stock prices.
The S&P Kensho Global Hydrogen Economy Index, which tracks companies along the low carbon hydrogen value chain, has returned to mid-2020 levels, erasing the gains made during the green energy boom at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021.
Last month, McKinsey lowered its forecast for green hydrogen energy in the United States by 70%, predicting that the country will not achieve the Biden administration's target of producing 10 million tons of clean hydrogen energy by 2030. In July, the European Court of Auditors warned that the EU's goal of producing 10 million tons of green hydrogen energy by 2030 is "unrealistic" and needs a "reality check."
Uncertainty in US tax credit rules and strict regulations in the EU, along with weak demand, have hindered project progress. According to reports from McKinsey and the Hydrogen Council, only 18% of clean hydrogen energy projects in North America and 5% of projects in Europe are planned to be operational before 2030.
In the hydrogen energy industry, the market is bleak, while nuclear power has gained favor from capital. With the AI boom, the demand for electricity has surged, and nuclear energy, as a cleaner and more efficient energy source, has become the focus again.
According to a report from Bank of America, since 2019, companies in the nuclear energy sector have been consistently outperforming their peers.Institutional tracking.The nuclear energy ETF has risen by 27% annually, outperforming the MSCI World Index, which tracks global equities with the same industry weight, by only 14%.
The recent surge in the market is directly driven by Amazon and Google announcing investments in small modular reactors, promoting the first batch of SMR deployments in the USA. As a result, many US nuclear energy stocks have soared significantly, reaching historic highs.
Among them, SMR developers Oklo Inc and NuScale Power have seen their stock prices rise by 80% and 486% respectively since the beginning of the year.
