Innovative activity development in the fuel and energy complex of Russia: problems and prospects

Russia’s fuel and energy complex is the basis for the national economy. On the one hand, it provides energy and power resources for all kinds of economic activities and non-material sphere, on the other hand, it forms most of the budget revenues due to the export of energy resources. The safety factor, underlying the complex during the period of its formation (the first three decades of the Soviet Union), acted as a shock ab-sorber of economic reforms in the 1990s. Uncompensated consumption over the past 50-60 years has cur-rently led to a number of technical and economic problems, significantly reducing the efficiency of power plants. Under the current economic conditions, taking into account the economic cycle stage, it is possible to solve these problems with the help of innovation. The article contains a review of the prerequisites of inno-vation activity in the fuel and energy complex of Russia. Analysis of innovative development programs at the largest energy companies allowed us to define the priorities. The author of the paper describes the level of innovative development of energy enterprises, indicating the reasons for its being relatively low. Based on technical and economic characteristics of products and production processes of energy companies, specific features of the organization and implementation of innovation in energy companies are determined. Studying the experience of implementing innovative ideas in the Russian energy sector helped to formulate the factors hindering success in this direction. In order to reduce the negative impact of the factors identified and to ef-fectively implement innovative activities in the Russian fuel and energy complex, it is necessary to carry out a series of reforms both at the level of industries and at single enterprises.