Oil player bags Statkraft renewables as LatAm nation loses green sheen
Norway's state-owned utility narrowing overseas investments to core markets and Colombia has lost its lustre for renewables investors
Norwegian utility Statkraft has agreed to sell its portfolio of wind and solar projects in Colombia to Ecopetrol, the Bogota-based national oil company.
The sale covers the renewables portfolio held by the Enerfin Colombia unit that was acquired by Statkraft in May 2024.
The portfolio includes three onshore wind projects and six solar projects that are all still under development, plus the 130MW Porton del Sol solar park, which entered into operation over a year ago.
Ecopetrol CEO Ricardo Roa told reporters that the portfolio of projects could total up to 1.3GW in capacity, but did not disclose the value of the transaction, according to Colombian media reports.
The acquisition of Enerfin put Statkraft among the top ten wind power producers in both Colombia and Brazil, but the utility has since refocused its own portfolio toward selected markets in the Nordics, Europe and South America.
Green ambitions
Colombia has attracted investments to the renewables sector over the last decade. Interest grew when President Gustavo Petro was elected in 2022 on a pledge to build a green economy and end reliance on fossil fuels.
Declining oil and gas reserves also bolstered the case for renewables investments, but permitting and community relations have proven problematic for developers.
EDPR entered the Colombian market in 2019 and said the two projects in La Guajira “sought to take advantage of the country's enormous wind potential”.
However, the company spent several years trying to get approvals for a crucial transmission line.
Italian developer Enel Green Power suspended its own wind farm construction in La Guajira in 2023, after consistent protests by local communities, including the Wayuu indigenous group.
Enel’s 200MW Windpeshi wind farm was originally set to begin generation in December 2022.
Roa told reporters that the company is on track to achieve its own goal of installing 900MW of renewable power capacity by 2030.
In its own statement, Statkraft said it expected the Colombian sale to be completed during the third quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.
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