Karongi, 24^th November, 2016-The team of Development Partners (DP) in the energy sector visited KivuWatt Methane Gas Power Plant to understand the operation of the plant. The Phase I of KivuWatt Methane Gas project currently generating 26 MW was completed in November 2015 and was officially inaugurated in May 2016 by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame. The project was constructed by Contour Global, an American Energy Firm which started selling power to the National Utility in December 2015.

Extracting Methane Gas from Lake Kivu was not only undertaken to increase Power supply but also to prevent possible Lake Turnover (Lake Explosion) to protect people and the environment around the lake.

The success of KivuWatt Methane Power Plant project meant moving ahead to KivuWatt Phase 2 implementation to increase power generation capacity with additional 75 MW.  The increase of power generation is towards meeting the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2) targets, under which the Government planned to increase the number of households connected to electricity in the country from 17% (2012) to 70 % by the year 2018 and universal access by 2020.  Currently, electricity access is at 27% of which 24.3% are connected to the grid.

The project was supported by key partners including African Development Bank, Government of the United States of America, Netherlands, Belgium, The European Union, and World Bank.

The DPs were impressed by the functionality of the Project. After visiting Kivuwatt project, the team of development partners also visited Nyabarongo I hydro power plant that generates 28MW. That marked the end of their projects visit that created a big difference in terms of sharing experiences and more knowledge on what is on ground.