Russia power tech firms want state, foreign help

By Alexander Gelogaev

MOSCOW, July 30 (Reuters) - Russian machine builders want closer cooperation with foreign majors in order to access their technology, but they said the state may have to step in and encourage -- or pressure -- the foreigners to share.

By 2010, Russian electricity producers plan to spend $27 billion building hundreds of new turbines, a feat that Russian engineering firms cannot accomplish alone.

"The biggest gas turbine Russian firms can produce is 160 megawatts ... These are machines that were installed 20 years ago," said Pyotr Bezukladnikov, the head of a leading engineering firm, E4 Group.

"For the power sector this is technically a normal size, but psychologically it is seen as having aged. The rest of the world already has the next generation of machines," he added.

Siemens (SIEGn.DE), which holds a 25 percent stake in Russia's largest turbine maker, Power Machines (SILM.RTS), last month gave its Russian partner construction and servicing rights for its 285 megawatt gas-fired turbine.

This kind of cooperation will be essential for Russian firms to play a role in the power sector's overhaul, which Russia is counting on so it can prevent electricity shortages crimping its economic boom.

"Cooperation with foreign companies means receiving machine construction technology that doesn't exist in the Russian supply chain," said Alexander Rantsev, head of strategic development at at Power Machines.