Statkraft announces major expansion plans into German renewables market

Norwegian energy company Statkraft announced its expansion targets for the German market which includes a significant ramp-up in renewable energy and green hydrogen by 2030.

The announcement, made this week at E-World in Essen, emphasises the role Statkraft wishes to play in Germany's energy transition as project developer, operator and provider of market access to renewable energy for its own and third-party plants.

Despite only entering the German market as a developer in 2019, Statkraft aims to operate an installed capacity of 2,000MW of wind and solar plants by 2030, which will accompany its existing flexible power plant portfolio of 1,800MW.

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"Germany is facing the major challenge of massively accelerating the expansion of renewable energy - in order to achieve the climate targets and create a faster phase-out of fossil fuels. We can confront this challenge with very concrete solutions," said Stefan-Jörg Göbel, Statkraft country manager in Germany. "We are building an organisation that will be able to develop and build around 300MW to 500MW of wind and solar capacity in Germany every year from 2027."

Besides wind and solar, Statkraft also plans to have at least 250MW of installed electrolysis capacity operational in 2030 and is currently examining sites for green hydrogen production.

In April this year, the company announced plans for a 10MW pilot project at a power plant site in Emden, which is expected to be operational in 2025. The aim is to operate electrolysers in Emden with a total capacity of up to 200MW connected to the future hydrogen pipeline network by 2030.

Göbel added: "The green hydrogen is to be used in the first step to decarbonise the regional transport sector in East Frisia. If we can connect electrolysers to the pipeline network in the second step, we will also be able to supply industrial companies nationwide with green hydrogen on a large scale."

Over the past two years, Statkraft has concluded numerous power purchase agreements enabling the financing and operation of around 1,000MW of subsidy-free renewable capacity in Germany.

The improvements in the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) and the simplification of the approval procedures for solar and wind projects in Germany, will make the regulatory landscape easier to navigate, suggests Statkraft, which will further drive the delivery of renewables projects.

David Flood, Senior Vice President Offshore Wind at Statkraft, explains why the Norwegian hydropower giant has returned to offshore wind and is now working to position itself as an industrial developer and operator in the sector. Find out more in the podcast below.