Rusnano and EBRD Plan $380M Glass Factory

Rusnano and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development joined forces to invest 2.8 billion rubles ($90 million) and 1.4 billion rubles, respectively, into a glass-manufacturing plant to be built in the Moscow region.

Total investment in the project is slated to reach 11.8 billion rubles in investments.

Pilkington, one of the world's largest glass producers, and STiS, Russia's largest insulating glass producer, are also co-signers of the deal that provides for the construction of a factory capable of producing 240,000 tons of high-quality glass per year.

The facility is currently expected to be developed southeast of Moscow next to Pilkington's current factory in Ramenskoye. The investments will also go toward modernizing the current Pilkington plant.

"The production of energy-efficient glass in Russia makes the technology more attainable for the widest number of consumers," said Rusnano managing director Dmitry Lisenkov. "With such practical steps as these, we will be able to launch an energy-saving program on a wide scale throughout the entire country."

The factory will produce 100,000 tons of multilayered glass with a unique special covering between five and 500 nanometers thick that diminishes heat losses by about 70 percent per year.

In a press release, Rusnano reported that by mass-producing the high-quality glass, costs will not be significantly higher than those for normal insulating glass windows.