BY GEORGE KAGAME
Gas extraction which began three weeks ago on Lake Kivu in the western province will incredibly supplement energy supplies in the country and increase economic activity.
This was revealed by John Mirenge the Director General of Electrogaz the government parastatal charged with energy supply, Mirenge who was speaking to journalists from his office on Wednesday said the current government had fulfilled the long held desire by Rwanda to utilize the huge methane gas deposits on the bedrock of L. Kivu: "For the first time in this country we have demystified the mystery of gas in Rwanda, before we only talked about it and doe nothing about it." He described it as a dream becoming reality.
Mirenge said that the pilot project to extract methane from Kivu began three weeks ago and it was producing 1.5 megawatts of electricity currently.
Speaking earlier, the Minister of state for energy said gas production on Lake Kivu is likely to cause challenges because it is the first time in the world that methane gas would be extracted from underneath the lake but stated that the gas will eventually be made available on the market, "The only problem remaining is that it will be the first time to exploit methane from underwater globally, so it will take a bit of time to come up with appropriate technology." The potential power output from the lake is 350 mw, he said.
Efforts to contact the techinicns in Gisenyi charged with the actual extraction were futile as their phones were switched off.
Methane gas has long been considered as the solution of Rwanda energy requirements, exploration works on the lake began in 1963 by a Belgian company. Today, the International Finance Corporation with other donors are financing the project.
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