Former Golden Ocean CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal has been appointed to lead Statkraft.
She will be the first female chief executive of Norway’s state power company when she takes over on 1 April.
“Statkraft is well positioned and has great opportunities to contribute to the green transition and create green jobs in Norway and internationally,” she said.
“Climate change and the need for energy security increase the demand for renewable energy, while technology development and scale reduce costs. This provides opportunities for continued strong and profitable growth as long as we continue to work as efficiently, safely and sustainably as possible.”
For the past two years, Vartdal has led Statkraft’s largest business area, the Nordics. Before that, she headed the business area of European wind and solar.
Vartdal, born in 1977, worked for Golden Ocean Group from 2010 to 2019. She was CEO of the John Fredriksen-backed bulker company from 2016 to 2019, before joining Statkraft in 2020.
She has also worked for the Torvald Klaveness Group.
Vartdal will receive the same basic salary as departing CEO Christian Rynning-Tonnesen — NOK 6.3m (about $600,000).
Statkraft accounts for one-third of Norway’s power production and is Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy.
It invests in, builds and operates renewable energy in Norway, Europe and selected international markets, including India and South America.
It has a portfolio of more than 400 renewable projects that could be developed over the coming years.
At the end of 2023, Statkraft had an estimated enterprise value of NOK 388bn, making it the second most valuable Norwegian company after oil producer Equinor.
