KARONGI- A floating barge to facilitate the extraction of methane gas from Lake Kivu for electricity will, next week, be installed in Karongi District.

This is the second such facility, after the one in Rubavu District, which currently produces five megawatts of electricity.

It is targeted that about 25 megawatts of electricity will be produced once the new extraction facility is fully functional.

The facility will constitute a barge floating on water, carrying equipment used in the extraction process.

The floating gear separates methane gas from the extracted mixture, compresses it and sends its vapour to an electricity production centre through pipelines.

According to Kodjo Afidegnon, the Marine Construction Manager of Kivuwatt Project, the barge’s installation is a step closer to the generation of electricity.

 "By the end of this week it (the barge) should be in the water from where the extraction equipment will be installed,” Afidegnon said yesterday.

Afidegnon explained that the facility is 65 metres long, 25 metres wide and 5 meters high.

News of the installation of the second extraction facility comes amid widespread expectations that the extraction exercise will boost both social and economic development, by bridging the energy deficit currently facing the country.

The Mayor of Karongi District, Bernard Kayumba, yesterday, said that the district’s ongoing development projects will receive a major boost from additional electricity to the national grid.

"The current rate of exploitation of wood resource reserves for energy will rapidly drop thus helping in the conservation of the environment,” Kayumba observed.

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