September the 20th, 2024 – The Norwegian Statkraft company has a brand new Croatian office. It is otherwise Europe’s largest renewable electric energy producer, present on Croatia’s market since 2021.
As Domagoj Puljizovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the well-known Norwegian Statkraft sees potential in this country with the opening of their new Croatian office. At the official opening, Arnaud Bellanger, Statkraft’s director for Croatia, and Simen Bræin, senior vice president of Statkraft’s European region 3, spoke about the company’s goals, challenges and activities. More than 6,000 employees work for Statkraft in more than 20 countries. The company’s year of foundation – 1895 – speaks volumes about its status.
The Norwegian Statkraft currently has more than 750 megawatts (MW) of solar power plant capacity under development across the Republic of Croatia. Its operations include hydro-power, wind power, solar power, gas power and district heating services. Statkraft’s project development capacities and ambitions in Croatia were further strengthened by the acquisition of Neoen’s Croatian operations and projects just a few months ago.
the norwegian statkraft, the new croatian office and revenues in the billions
“We’re actively developing a robust series of solar and wind power projects across Croatia, as well as energy storage systems. Moving to new and larger premises marks the next phase of our activity, as does aligning with our vision of growth and sustainability. We have an ambitious portfolio of projects currently in various stages, which ultimately promises the continued development of our capacity in this country over the coming years,” said Bellanger.
According to Bellanger, the Norwegian Statkraft’s first large-scale projects which will be managed by the new Croatian office above 10 MW could be operational in 2026 or 2027. About a quarter of those planned projects involve agro-solar power plants, and the company is also exploring opportunities in wind power and battery storage alongside their solar parks.
Statkraft assesses the business climate for renewable energy sources in Europe as challenging due to the cannibalisation of photovoltaic projects and frequent negative prices rendering projects unsafe. Regarding Croatia, they admit that the procedures for obtaining permits should be accelerated and the processes by county should be standardised.
“Three or four years ago we decided to enter the Croatian market. In fact, the decision came from the company we bought at the time, Solarcentury, along with several other entities in several countries. Croatia was one of them, but at that time it was not governed locally, so we sat back and studied the country. Every country is different and we needed to understand the differences in legislation at different levels. This is something very specific compared to other countries,” said Bellanger.
The Norwegian Statkraft’s net profits in Croatia showed a growing loss from 2021 onwards. At the global level, net operating income in 2023 amounted to 5.7 billion euros, and the year before, it reached as much as 7.5 billion euros.
In the countries where they’ve been operating for a long time, the results are already very visible – since entering the Irish market back in 2018, they have more than tripled their development portfolio. In 2023, they re-entered the offshore wind market in Europe, securing 500 MW for the development of the North Irish Sea Array project.
new plants and renovations for old ones
Recent acquisitions have placed the company among the top ten wind farm operators in Spain and Germany. In both countries, Statkraft is building new wind farms and refurbishing old plants to extend their service life. In the Netherlands, the company is developing the first permitted agro-solar project that combines solar energy production with agricultural activities.
the development of offshore power plants
Statkraft is currently planning some very significant investments in the coming years. They’ll amount to more than NOK 30 billion (2.54 billion euros) by the end of the year. This includes the acquisition of the Spanish renewable energy company, Enerfin, which they completed back in May.
In addition, Statkraft intends to become the largest hydro-power operator in all of Europe, it wants to focus additionally on the development of solar energy, onshore wind farms and battery energy storage, and plans to take a key role in the development of offshore wind farms in Northern Europe.
Projects of this type in Croatia are currently, in general, only in the phase of consideration of possibilities. As part of the development of new business branches, it plans to become an industrial leader in solutions based on green hydrogen.
