Norway’s Norsk Hydro will stop funding its green hydrogen and battery businesses on the back of challenging market conditions.
“Battery materials and green hydrogen will no longer be strategic growth areas for Hydro,” the hydropower and aluminium producer said on Wednesday.
The business units will rather be phased out over time, after the battery division was set up in 2017.
Battery recycling business Hydrovolt, which was set up as a joint venture with Northvolt in 2020, will continue to be supported under the plan, Norsk Hydro said.
However, the company last month said it was now the sole financier of the joint venture, with Sweden-based Northvolt having since filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.
Companies have been grappling with knock-on effects from subdued demand for electric vehicles across Europe recently, with Hydro's aluminium volumes having dropped this year.