Statkraft sells up in a European market as cost cutting drive continues
Norwegian state-owned green power giant is under pressure to improve finances after plunging deep into the red in recent results
Statkraft is pushing ahead with its strategy to cut costs and markets as it announced the sale of its Dutch renewable energy business, including a portfolio of wind, solar and battery storage projects.
Norway’s state-owned Statkraft, which claims to be Europe's largest producer of renewable energy largely thanks to its hydropower assets, announced today that it is concluding the sale of its Dutch business to local green power supplier Greenchoice.
The sale includes 120MW of operating solar power assets and a portfolio of solar, wind and battery projects, said Statkraft, along with the transfer of its team in the country. The deal is expected to close in the coming months.
“I am very pleased that we have agreed to sell our portfolios of solar, wind and storage projects in the Netherlands to a company which will use this business as a platform for further growth,” said Statkraft Executive Vice President for Europe, Barbara Flesche.
Statkraft said it will continue its “well-established market operations” in the Netherlands while, as announced previously, scaling back on its hydrogen projects in the country.
Statkraft had last year announced plans to quit several global markets, including Croatia, India and the Netherlands.
In June, CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal said Statkraft “will prioritise our financial capacity on near-term profitable technologies, such as solar, wind and batteries in fewer markets.”
Those comments came before Statkraft plunged deep into the red last month after taking a big hit over future expectations from its Nordic wind power operations. It announced a second quarter impairment of NKr3bn ($295m) against future power price and generation expectations at its Swedish and Norwegian onshore wind plants.
That helped propel the company to a NKr6.5bn net loss, way higher than the NKr992m deficit posted in the second quarter of 2024.
Greenchoice said in its own announcement that the deal “significantly expands” its position as a green power generator.
Greenchoice CEO Coen de Ruiter said he was pleased to welcome new team members to help realise faster deployment of wind, solar and battery storage projects.
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