Five  international companies from India, South Africa, Sweden and China are bidding to provide technical support to Rwanda to assist in the production of compressed biogas.

This follows an announcement by Construction and Renewable Energy Technologies (CRET S.A.R.L) that it is venturing into production of compressed biogas in Rwanda.

The compressed natural gas will be used mainly for vehicle fuel and cooking energy.

"We need technical experts to help us compress biogas into natural gas. Our main objective is to have a partner who will help to produce the best quality but at an affordable cost,” Eduourd Ndayisaba, the Managing Director of CRET told The Business Times on Tuesday.

"We are trying to see who will be cheaper without compromising standards. We want our products to be relatively cheap for local consumption,” he underlined. 

Ndayisaba also revealed that the process of selection is in progress and that the feasibility studies will subsequently begin. 

"After selection we shall visit the company and work  out modalities of transferring knowledge and skills,” he said without divulging more details.

However, The Business Times has learnt that Manna Energy Limited, which is working with CRET to install about 500 water treatment systems in secondary schools in Rwanda, is one of the bidders. 

According to Ndayisaba by end of September this year, the project for production of biogas will have kicked off.

The firm estimates to produce 1400 kgs of compressed electricity daily after the construction of bio-digesters.

Biogas has 60 percent of methane content and 40 percent of carbon-dioxide. This biogas can be purified to match compressed natural  gas standards by use of advanced technologies.

Biogas recovery has the triple advantage of producing clean heat and electricity, reducing the impact of organic waste on the environment.

CRET also intends to produce other products from compressed biogas including recycled water and fertilisers.

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