United Company RusAl has requested 1.4 billion rubles ($45 million) from the government for the development of two innovation projects.
No other company has ever requested such a large sum.
The commission for modernization and technological development has approved the two RusAl projects, a source close to the commission and an official in the presidential administration told Vedomosti. The decision is preliminary, they said, and there will be a final list of projects approved later.
RusAl says the development of a heavy-duty electrolytic cell will cost 2 billion rubles, while technology for producing aluminum via the use of inert anodes will run 1.07 billion rubles.
RusAl asked the government for 1.4 billion rubles through 2014 for the projects — the biggest request made by a single company.
A total of 168.9 billion rubles has been assigned to the commission for 2010 to 2012, but it is asking for an additional 92.5 billion rubles.
RusAl will not invest much more into the two projects because the main part of the investment has already been made. The company has been working on electrolytic cells since 2001 and has invested 808 million rubles in the highest capacity model. Now it needs to build and launch a pilot installation, which it says will happen in 2011 or 2012 and require 1.09 billion rubles. The company is investing 199 million rubles and will request another 1 billion through 2014.
On its second project, RusAl has spent 439 million rubles since 2004, and in 2011 to 2014 it will invest another 230 million. It hopes for 400 million rubles from the government.
The government is ready to co-finance at most half of the required sum — and that much only in exceptional circumstances, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said.
RusAl’s projects likely fit such circumstances. In 2008, VEB lent the holding $4.5 billion, nearly doubling its limit for a single borrower.
The projects have clear economic and ecological benefits, RusAl said.
“It’s not just elements modifying existing processes but rather dramatically different technology,” RusAl spokeswoman Vera Kurochkina said.
Co-financing will speed up completion of the work, she said. “After implementing [these projects] into the production process, Russia’s aluminum sector will become the clear world leader for many years ahead. And the quicker we implement them, the more significant the technological breakthrough will be,” she said.
The projects are realizable, and their results might be in demand in countries other than Russia, according to an assessment by Rusnano’s science and technology commission.