page_title: Lake Kivu
section_title: Methane extraction
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Kivu / Chemistry / Methane extraction
caption_attribution_description: English: The methane extraction platform at Lake Kivu. Based on the success of this pilot, ContourGlobal – a U.S. power developer active in developing countries – is constructing a $325 million, 100MW power plant at Lake Kivu that will help address Rwanda’s enormous power needs. Photo courtesy of the American Embassy in Kigali.
context_page_description: Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika.
context_section_description: Lake Kivu has recently been found to contain approximately 55 billion cubic metres (1.94 trillion cubic feet) of dissolved biogas at a depth of 300 metres (1,000 ft). Until 2004, extraction of the gas was done on a small scale, with the extracted gas being used to run boilers at the Bralirwa brewery in Gisenyi. As far as large-scale exploitation of this resource is concerned, the Rwandan government has negotiated with a number of parties to produce methane from the lake.
  In 2011 ContourGlobal, a UK-based energy company focused on emerging markets, secured project financing to initiate a large-scale methane extraction project. The project is run through a local Rwandan entity called KivuWatt, using an offshore barge platform to extract, separate, and clean the gasses obtained from the lake bed before pumping purified methane via an underwater pipeline to on-shore gas engines. Stage one of the project, powering three "gensets" along the lake shore and supplying 26 MW of electricity to the local grid, has since been completed. The next phase aims to deploy nine additional "gensets" at 75 MW to create a total capacity of 101 MW.
  In addition, Symbion Power Lake Kivu Limited was awarded a Concession and Power Producing Agreement (PPA) in 2015, to produce 50 MW of power using the Lake Kivu methane resource.  The project is expected to commence construction in 2019, with first power (Phase 1 - 14 MW) to be produced in first quarter 2020. The plant will be fully operational in 2021.
  Symbion Power has purchased another concession for a further 25 MW and are currently negotiating a PPA with the Rwanda Electricity Group which may see 8 MW of power despatched to the Grid six months after the PPA has been signed.  This concession is on the site of the original pilot plant known as KP1.
  In addition to managing gas extraction, KivuWatt will also manage the electrical generation plants and on-sell the electrical power to the Rwandan government under the terms of a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). This allows KivuWatt to control a vertically integrated energy offering from point of extraction to point of sale into the local grid. Extraction is said to be cost-effective and relatively simple because once the gas-rich water is pumped up, the dissolved gases (primarily carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and methane) begin to bubble out as the water pressure gets lower. This project is expected to increase Rwanda's energy generation capability by as much as 20 times, and will enable Rwanda to sell electricity to neighbouring African countries. The firm was awarded the 2011 Africa Power deal of the year for innovation in the financing arrangements it obtained from various sources for the KivuWatt project. The $200 million power plant was operating at 26 MW in 2016.
caption: A methane extraction platform, Gisenyi, Rwanda.
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