Miracle at Lake Kivu: Methane gas barge goes into waters

Birds were  shaking  off the night coldness at  break   of dawn, while  the breeze  swept  apathetically  above the  waters of Lake  Kivu, but  off  the   shores of the lake a miracle was happening- the Methane gas  barge extractor was being pushed into the  water.

The  moving into the  water of the delayed  barge  that is expected to extract  gas  from the  base of the  lake which has been regarded as dangerous  once it  explodes  started at 5am  local time in the  morning.

The barge began the 13 kilometer push into the water at 5am local time

Using   heavy cranes with drones dressing the air, technicians started the miracle of pushing the   barge 13 kilometers off the shore of Lake Kivu in Karongi District into the lake where it is expected to extract the gas.

“The barge kivuwatt project is now moving to the production site kibuye,”   said sylidio sebuharara, a journalist who was first at the site as the barge was moved into the waters.

After   reaching its production site, the barge will be supported with   four  cranes  on each sides to  protect  it from wind while  an extraction  pipe  of 350 meters will be  connected to   move  up  water that is  mixed with  methane  Gas.

Here the barge is seen a few kilometers from the shore of the lake

The  use of  a floating barge  in  Methane gas extraction is a unique   technology  that has been  tested  on  Lake Kivu,  implying its success is an important   mark in the use of   technology  worldwide.

The first   generation from the first phase is expected to begin in July, 2015.

The barge  that belongs  to  Kivuwatt  project  by American company  contour global   marks  the   first phase of the   project that   is expected to  generate  100 megawatts  from the  bed of the lake. This first phase is expected to generate   25 megawatts that will be pushed to the national grid.

The Kivuwatt   project has three  phases with the  first  phase  that  has been   almost  completed today  by  pushing the barge into the water  is expected to cost   over $142 million (about Rwf92 billion).

Photos taken by a drone show the barge many kilometers away from the shore of the lake

In a bid  to  increase electricity  on its grid while also  solving the challenge of the  gas likely to explode, the  Government entered into  a contract with  Contour  Global  in 2009  to   extract the  gas and generate  100 megawatts  with the  first  phase  generating 25 megawatts.

But  Kivuwatt  project’s  first  phase that would  require to  build the   barge  off  shore and  push it  into the  water   was  expected  to  generate the first  25  megawatts  by  2013 but was delayed with several  hindrances  that   forced the government  and contour  Global  to extend the  deadline to  January 2015.

This,  therefore created  pessimism  as  to whether  the expected  methane gas  would  help government meet  its  targets  of  generating  563MW by 2017  from  the current  145MW.