Hidden in the deep waters of Lake Kivu, one of Africa’s Great Lakes situated between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, lies a colossal reserve of methane gas. The Project represents the first large scale use of this methane. Extracting it will greatly reduce the environmental hazards associated with a natural release of the lake gases, and also provide an environmentally friendly and sustainable source of power generation. Lake Kivu, the world’s eighteenth deepest lake and the KivuWatt Project ticks all the boxes when it comes to a ‘game changer’ for its technological and financial innovation and the sheer impact it will have on the country’s development and socioeconomic prospects. The project involves the construction of an integrated methane gas extraction and production facility and an associated 25-megawatt power plant.

As part of our Team’s mandate, IPFA offered:

• advice on the appropriateness of the existing legal and regulatory framework, in terms of Rwanda’s ability to attract private investment and similar infrastructure transactions, and in terms of Rwanda’s ability to manage the social, economic, and environmental impacts of such transactions; and
• the drafting of any new primary or secondary legislation, or legislative amendments, necessary to facilitate the Plant and similar infrastructure transactions, and manage the social, economic, and environmental impacts of such transactions.

As part of the Transaction Support activity, the Team provided:

• the drafting of regulatory instruments necessary to facilitate the Plant and manage the social, economic, and environmental impacts;
• the drafting of agreements with private investors, lenders, or other parties, necessary to effect the Plant and manage the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the Plant; and
• assistance, given in consultation with the Transaction Advisor, to the Project Steering Committee (“PSC”) during the negotiations with the private investors.

Once completed, the project will raise and process methane gas trapped deep in the waters of Lake Kivu for use as fuel to generate critically needed electricity for the people of Rwanda, while simultaneously removing harmful gases safely. The lake from which the gas will be harvested is naturally hazardous, as methane from the lake bed bubbles to the surface and has caused a number of spontaneous explosions. ContourGlobal will develop, construct and operate the platform-based gas extraction system that will be moored 13 kilometers off the Rwandan coast and extract methane gas from a depth of 350 meters. The gas will be processed and transported by pipeline to ContourGlobal’s power plant being developed in Kibuye, Rwanda.

By tapping an indigenous fuel source, the project will significantly lower the cost of electricity necessary to drive Rwanda’s fast growing economy. In the project’s first phase, processed methane will power three gas engine generator sets to produce roughly 25 megawatts of electricity for the local grid. Phase two is expected to add another 75 megawatts of capacity, employing nine additional generator sets to expand KivuWatt to 100 megawatts of power.