The KivuWatt Methane Gas Plant on Lake Kivu
Rwanda is not yet done with the most ambitious project; the extraction of methane gas in Lake Kivu which, some people had called, ‘a time bomb project’ but was successful.
May 16, 2016 was a memorable day in Rwanda. The day is when President Paul Kagame unveiled 26 megawatts extracted from Methane gas in Lake Kivu in the Western part of the country.
For many decades, scientists had claimed that it was very dangerous to extract methane gas from Rwanda’s Lake Kivu which is so close to Nyiragongo active volcano in DRC.
In 2009 Rwanda started works on extracting methane gas from the Lake to meet its national energy needs.
The 26MW project was completed in 2016 and was conducted by Contour Global – an America company. Two years later the Lake is supplying electricity to the national grid and works have started for the next phases.
Taylor Higaniro – head of Power Generation department at Energy Development Corporation Limited (EDCL) told KT Press that plans are underway for two investors to extract 70 more megawatts from the Lake.
According to Higaniro, Symbion Power, an American energy company signed a deal with Government to develop new 50MW. Expropriation works are ongoing.
“From the contract we have with them, extraction works will start in August 2019,” Higaniro told KT Press.
In addition, he said, Contour Global – another American company is preparing extraction of 20megawatts from the Lake.
