Statkraft to prioritise investments in Norway, Europe, and South America

To continue Statkraft’s legacy of profitable growth and support to a net-zero future, Statkraft will:  

• Prioritise investments in Norwegian hydropower, and in global market operations
• Grow in solar, wind, and battery storage in the Nordics, Europe and South America, increasing the annual delivery rate to 2-2.5 GW from 2026. 
• Gradually pursue an industrial role within offshore wind in Northern Europe and build a position as an industrial developer of green hydrogen as the market matures.

As part of the sharpened strategy Statkraft announced in June this year, the company will divest its onshore wind, solar and battery business in the Netherlands and Croatia. Over time, Statkraft will also divest its hydropower and solar assets in India, allowing the company to focus on high-potential markets in the Nordics, Europe, and South America, and deliver on its ambitious growth targets.  
"Despite geopolitical tensions and inflation, the cost competitiveness of renewable energy is driving strong growth in all energy market scenarios as projected by Statkraft and other leading analysts, presenting profitable growth opportunities worldwide. Statkraft has built a strong position as Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy and a significant player in selected markets in South America, with an attractive portfolio of profitable renewable projects and a track record of profitable investments and solid returns. We have already sharpened our strategy to allocate capital to our core business, and now we are focusing our investments on fewer markets. This will build scale and strengthen our competitiveness and value creation," says President and CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal in Statkraft. 
“Statkraft has a profitable portfolio of renewable energy assets in operation, and an attractive project portfolio and organisational capabilities in India. However, realising further sustainable growth in the country will require major investments. Outside Europe we will dedicate new investments to South America, where the opportunities to achieve scale and leverage our core capabilities are strong,” says Vartdal.  

“In Europe, we will continue to build a strong position in renewable energy. We are optimising the portfolio to build scale, strength, and profitability in high-potential markets,” says Vartdal.  
As announced in June, Statkraft’s assets and investment plans in the Nordics remain robust, including onshore wind development and five major capacity upgrade projects in Norwegian hydropower plants. In offshore wind, Statkraft aims to develop 6 – 8 GW with partners by 2040 in Northern Europe, and in hydrogen, the company aims to develop 1 – 2 GW past final investment decision by 2035.  

Statkraft has previously announced plans to divest the district heating business and find investors in the biofuels company Silva Green Fuel and the EV charging company, Mer.

New Statkraft organisation from 2025  

To further support the sharpened strategy, Statkraft will introduce an updated organisation and a new corporate management, effective from 1 January 2025:

The three geographical business areas, Nordics, Europe and International, will continue being responsible for asset ownership and project development in the respective regions. The business area Markets remains a top-tier provider of market solutions in Europe, with a significant global reach.

A new business area, named Technology and Project Delivery, will be responsible for developing best-practise safety, and operations and maintenance standards, as well as cost-effective delivery of construction projects, procurement services and IT deliveries. The business area will comprise of Statkraft’s joint technology, procurement, IT, HSS and project delivery competency.

“We have, in recent years, built a net flexible development portfolio of attractive projects totalling around 20 GW. The new business area will create value and increase competitiveness in delivering projects by building scale, increasing standardisation, reducing complexity, and improving cost efficiency, leveraging Statkraft’s strengths in IT and digital process transformation. Also, in a time where digitalisation and AI opens new opportunities, close collaboration between the IT organisation and operations are key to strengthen our competitiveness,” says Vartdal.  

The current New Energy Solutions business area will be discontinued from next year, as the business area’s responsibilities will be transferred to other units. 
 
The five business areas will be supported by three support areas: In addition to the CFO area, the current Corporate Staff area will be restructured into two new units:  

• Corporate Development will be tasked with the long-term strategic development and positioning of Statkraft. Responsibilities will comprise innovation and new business development, as well as the group functions corporate strategy, public affairs, corporate office and communication and marketing. In addition, the asset owner responsibilities for the district heating, EV-charging and biofuels businesses will sit with this area, including managing related divestment processes. 
• The new People, Organisation and Sustainability area will comprise the group functions corporate HR, governance, compliance and sustainability.

New group management from 2025  

The group management team will from 1 January 2025 consist of CEO and President Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal and the following Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs): 

• EVP and CFO, Anna Nord Bjercke
• EVP Markets, Hallvard Granheim
• EVP Europe, Barbara Flesche
• EVP Corporate Development, Henrik Nissen Sætness
• EVP Technology and Project Delivery, Ingeborg Dårflot 
   

The EVP positions for the business areas Nordics and International are currently vacant, as is the role of EVP for the new staff and support area named People, Organisation and Sustainability. A recruitment process to fill the vacancies will be initiated immediately. 
 
In light of Statkraft’s sharpened business strategy and organisational changes, where business area New Energy Solutions will be discontinued, EVP Jürgen Tzschoppe has concluded this is the right time for him to leave Statkraft and pursue other opportunities.  
 
CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal says, “I would like to recognise and thank Jürgen Tzschoppe for all his contributions to Statkraft. Jürgen’s tenure in Statkraft spans more than 22 years, including almost ten years as EVP - first for Market Operations and IT, later for International Power and the last two years for New Energy Solutions. Jürgens leadership and his strategic, commercial and technical skills have significantly contributed to Statkraft’s strong international growth and value creation. We would like to thank him for his strong contributions and wish him all the best for the next steps.”