Kibuye Power Plant 1, also Kibuye Thermal Power Station 1 (KP1), is a

methane gas Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ear ...

-fired thermal power plant in Rwanda.

Location

The power plant is located in Kibuye, Karongi District, in the Western Province of Rwanda, approximately , by road, west of Kigali, the capital and largest city in that country.

Overview

Starting in 2006, with partial financing from the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of ...

(IFC), the government of Rwanda began sourcing for qualified engineering firms to design, build and operate a methane gas-powered electricity generating power plant, using gas extracted from the depths of

Lake Kivu Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, whic ...

. One of the objectives of this project, was to prove that it was possible to generate electricity from methane gas in the lake in on a profitable commercial basis. The project cost an estimated US$20 million to set up.

Ownership

The project is majority owned by the Rwandan government. A partnership with Dane Associates, an Edinburgh-based enterprise broke up over financial disagreements. In 2015, with the project unable to pay its debts, the Rwanda Commercial High Court dissolved the Kibuye Power 1 Company, at the request of the

government of Rwanda The politics of Rwanda reflect Belgian and German civil law systems and customary law takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the President of Rwanda is the head of state with significant executive power, with the Pr ...

. The government began to accept bids from new investors to restart the project. In October 2016, Symbion Power, an American electricity-generating enterprise, acquired Kibuye Power Plant 1 at an undisclosed sum of money. Symbion plans a gradual, phased upgrade of capacity, first to 25 MW in 2018, and to 50 MW in 2019.

Other considerations

Kibuye Power Plant 1 is the second power project Symbion has committed to develop on Lake Kivu. It has also agreed to develop Kivu 56 Power Station, a , methane-powered electricity-generating plant. Under that agreement, the first are expected in 2018.

References

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External links