St. Petersburg, Russia, June 18, 2011 – Alcoa (NYSE:AA), OJSC RUSNANO and JSC Inter-regional distribution grid companies Holding (JSC IDGC Holding) signed today a Memorandum of Intent to establish a joint venture for the development and production of nanocoatings. The memorandum was signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum by IDGC Holding Deputy Director General and Technical Director, Boris Mekhanoshin RUSNANO Chief Executive Officer Anatoly Chubais, and Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld.

The joint venture will produce a broad range of applications including anti-icing nano-structured coatings for ground cables, wires and other components of power transmission lines. The project also includes production of next generation wires and cables with improved conductivity and anti-icing properties for JSC Holding IDGC companies. Alcoa and RUSNANO joint venture will look to install a pilot production line for the application of nano-coatings. JSC Holding IDGC, in turn, will support implementation of corresponding research and development, tests and certification of new high-tech products.

As noted by JSC Holding MRSK Director General Nickolay Shvets, concluded that last winter’s “icy rain” were proof of the need for wires with anti-icing properties. The technology will reduce power outages and increase service life. “Producing next generation wires and cables in Russia to meet the demands of the country’s power distribution grid will be an important step in improving system reliability of power supply to consumers,” he said.

“It’s well known that icing and rupture of power transmission lines due to inclement weather conditions is one of the most acute problems for Russian power engineers,” said Chubais. “We expect our joint development of nano-coatings for existing power lines and future production of next generation cables will fix that problem.”

Kleinfeld added: “Alcoa and its partners RUSNANO and JSC Holding IDGC offer unique technological and production capacity. Together, we hope to open new opportunities for the aluminum industry in Russia.”

JSC Holding IDGC is a Russian company operating in power engineering, which structure unites interregional and regional power distribution grid companies (MRSK/RSK), institutes of scientific research and research and development institutes, as well as construction and sales organizations. 97 branches of MRSK/RSK are situated in 69 subordinate entities of the Russian Federation. Grids of 10 power grades from 0.4 to 220 kV are in the sphere of JSC IDGC Holding companies responsibility. The overall length of JSC Holding IDGC affiliated operating companies’ grids exceeds 2.1 million kilometers. The Holding IDGC is one of the world’s largest power grid companies in power distribution grids length and number of consumers. The overall volume of power transfer in 2010 was 591 billion kW/hour. The IDGC Holding groups numbers around 190 thousand qualified experts responsible for reliable and quality transfer and distribution of power, providing consumers technological involvement services.