A Russian investment fund, Republic of Tatarstan and Wermuth Asset Management plan, is to set up a 200 million euro clean technology fund that aims to help the heavy oil producing region to manage industrial waste and boost energy efficiency, according to a report by Reuters. The fund says that it is targeting companies, which produce waste to energy technology, biodiesel fuel and nano fracking technologies that would be used to raise the oil recovery levels on the region’s largely depleted fields.
Despite Russia’s ambition to diversify its $1.2 trillion economy away from reliance on oil and gas revenues, and develop a high technology sector, the fund will mostly be aimed at investing in foreign tech companies that want access to the Russian market. Russia is the world’s largest crude exporter and gas producer, but its official energy policy sees 4.5 percent of its power coming from renewable sources by the end of this decade.
The Tatarstan Clean Tech Fund’s target size is 200 million euro, of which the republic is contributing 100 million Euro and Wermuth 10 million Euros, with the remaining 90 million Euros yet to be found. “We will invest in the world’s best clean technology companies, help them enter the Russian market and, eventually, set up production in Russia”, Wermuth founder Jochen Wermuth told Reuters.
Source: http://www.recyclingportal.eu/artikel/27094.shtml