Rwanda launches methane gas plant for electricity

                           
Rwanda has launched a power plant which uses methane gas from Lake Kivu, officials said, adding 26 megawatts (MW) to the grid in a country where only a quarter of the population is connected to an electricity supply.

The KivuWatt plant developed by US Company Contour Global is the first phase in a scheme to add more than 100MW exploiting the lake’s methane. The firm now plans to add 75 MW in three 25 MW instalments between 2018 and 2019.

Rwanda is aiming to give 70 per cent of its 11 million people access to power from the grid, or off-grid supplies, by 2018, up from about 25 per cent now.

Broader access to power is seen as vital to lifting economic growth in Rwanda and across Africa.

“26MW won’t address our energy or power problems but it is an indication of what is possible,” President Paul Kagame said at the inauguration of the plant.

Before the addition of the KivuWatt plant, Rwanda’s installed capacity was 186MW.

The government has said it plans to more than double that to 563MW by 2017-2018. The power plant and methane processing cost $200 million, financed by a private partnership with help from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and development funds, officials said.
 Rwanda’s Infrastructure Ministry has said Lake Kivu, which it shares with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, could support production of up to 700 MW. Congo has said it wants to exploit the lake’s methane resources as well.