Green energy giant Statkraft looks beyond Norway for growthOSLO - Norwegian state-owned utility Statkraft, which has quietly become Europe's largest renewable energy producer, faces the challenge under its new CEO of balancing ambitions for global growth with financial restraint and calls to go public.
She told Reuters she would continue the company's "solid strategy" to develop more hydropower, wind and solar. Statkraft dates back to 1895, when Norway began harnessing its hydropower resources, making it prosperous long before the country found oil and gas in the late 1960s. "We also earned the whole investment back in one and a half years by selling off projects that were under development when we acquired the company," he said.
Ringstad Vartdal told Reuters the focus abroad is on building at scale, which should improve profitability, aided by a drop in the cost of solar power and an expectation that wind power costs will also retreat.Together with India, another market Statkraft is committed to, it has a growing population and economy as well as a substantial supply chain to serve the renewable industry.
Astrup's proposal would see domestic hydropower resources retained under full state ownership, while all other business would be open to outside investors and eventually listed.