RS Brief news Foreign Investors to be Offered to Invest in Joint Ventures in Russian Power Plant Engineering

Foreign Investors to be Offered to Invest in Joint Ventures in Russian Power Plant Engineering

June 2011

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation has presented its Strategy for the Development of the Russian Power Plant Engineering Industry until 2030. The main idea behind the document is that the nation’s power supply must be secured by replacing imported technologies with domestic technologies. The Ministry believes that the main problem of the sector is an increasing technological and R&D dependence of Russia on imported technologies and power equipment. At the moment the power engineering equipment of the vast majority of companies is obsolete and the wear and tear of the plant and equipment exceeds 60%. At the same time about 80% of the new plant and equipment purchased by power companies is imported. The efficiency of domestically manufactured power equipment lags behind its foreign made counterparts, which places higher demands on the fuel production sector.

Among the measures that should secure Russia’s power supply in the future planned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade are a correction of the import tariffs on power equipment, the creation of conditions conducive to increasing the availability of long term loans for Russian power engineering companies, improvement of the existing system of leasing equipment for the retooling of power companies, provision of more loans for investment projects.

Taking into account the great dependence of the Russian power engineering sector on foreign manufacturers and the necessity to ensure the security of the state, the ministry officials believe that priority must be given to maximising the amount of domestic manufacture of power engineering equipment under licenses from foreign manufacturers or as part of joint ventures with foreign participation.