Billions of dollars to be invested in Russian power plants by 2020 - February 2012

Despite major investment in recent years, much of Russia’s power infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. Modernisation and expansion of the country’s power-generating capabilities and grid have become an urgent priority. Coupled with this, demand is rising rapidly and is expected to increase by nearly 30% by 2020, and by more than 50% by 2030. Such is the extent of the problem that more than $25bn will need to be invested in the sector every year over the next two decades if the future demand for electricity is to be met.

The Russian power sector is plagued by several problems, notably the high degree of deterioration of generating and distribution assets, and high transmission losses. According to our latest report, entitled "Power sector construction in Russia 2012", most of the power stations in Russia were built back in the 1960s and 1970s, and have a very low efficiency ratio – typically 33-35%.