Nitol Solar, a Russian-based company that makes high-purity silicon for the solar industry, is planning a listing on the London Stock Exchange - a move expected to value the company at about $1bn (£511m).

The plan, due to be announced on Monday, illustrates the extent of global investor interest in renewable energy. This is one of the few sectors to remain attractive in relation to new public listings in the aftermath of recent stock market turbulence.

Dmitry Kotenko, Nitol's chief executive, said the solar industry appeared "one of the most attractive businesses to be involved in" as a result of strong demand globally for electricity produced by solar panels based on high-purity silicon.

Under the company's plans, 25-30 per cent of its total equity will be made available to investors in London via the offering.

That will leave the rest of the company controlled by Ecolive, a private Luxembourg group that invests in green projects and in which Mr Kotenko is a principal shareholder.

Many countries are examining new ways to produce electricity that do not involve the burning of fossil fuels and their consequent emissions of carbon dioxide.

Tim Eggar, minister for energy between 1992 and 1996 in the last Conservative government, is Nitol's chairman.

While all Nitol's production assets are in Usolie-Sibirskoe, a city in Siberia, the company has been registered since 2006 in Jersey, giving it UK domicile. This means its listing is likely to be accomplished through the issue of ordinary shares rather than the global depository receipts that are the normal way for companies in Russia to list in London.

In recent years, London has been a strong centre for new listings involving companies from the former Soviet Union, including Severstal and Evraz, two large Russian steelmakers, and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, a Kazakhstan-based mining business.

Because of increasing demand for solar energy, the high-purity silicon needed for solar panels - which is very difficult to make - has been in short supply in recent years, pushing up prices and drawing new entrants into this industry.

Nitol plans to make about 3,700 tonnes of silicon a year from about 2010 onwards in its Usolie-Sibirskoe plant compared with just a few hundred tonnes this year.

The total bill for the equipment needed to ramp up production is expected to be about $500m, with a large part of this being financed from the cash it hopes to raise in the flotation. Nitol's advisers are Citigroup and Credit Suisse.

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