Kigali, 3rd May, 2016 – From November 2015, Rwanda is getting 25 MW generated from its Methane Gas resource in Lake Kivu.

 
In 2009, the Government of Rwanda signed concession agreement with KivuWatt Ltd, a subsidiary of ContourGlobal, an American energy Firm to construct and operate a facility to extract methane gas from Lake Kivu and generate 100 MW of electrical power in two phases.

Phase I started just afterward and in November 2015 the 25 MW project was completed and entered commercial operation on December 31, 2015 to sell the power to the National Utility.

After the completion of the project first phase, the project management has now switched focus to the second phase of the project which will produce 75 MW to the national grid.

Eng. MUGIRANEZA Jean Bosco the CEO of Rwanda Energy Group (REG) hails the effort put in place by ContorGlobal management to join hand with the Government in line with its target of increasing its power generation.

“Kivuwatt is one of the key projects that will help the country to generate enough power in line with facilitating the country economic growth as the energy sector is a major accelerator to scale up economy” Mugiraneza said.
Kivuwatt project is made up by essential parts including : a barge extracting gas  installed in Lake Kivu at a distance of 15km from the edge ,a power house and a transmission line that connect generated capacity to the national grid.
Currently, there are major projects in the pipeline that will enhance the country power generation, including 27 MW from Rusumo hydroelectric project (as a share of Rwanda), 80 MW from Hakan Peat to Power Project, 45 MW from Rusizi III hydro project (as a share for Rwanda).

Currently, the number of households connected to electricity is currently 24 per cent; the target is to achieve 70 per cent of the population, by 2018, under the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRSII).

The Methane Gas in Lake Kivu is estimated to be sufficient to generate 700 MW of electricity over a period of 55 years. Rwanda’s share of the total generation potential is about 350 MW, with the rest being DRC’s share.

Rwanda wishes to utilize this resource to develop methane-to-power projects and other uses such as fertilizer and gas-to liquids projects.