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Power plant runs on ‘killer lake’ gasses
An engine-based power plant has been built in Rwanda that runs on methane gas lifted from a local lake. The 25 MW Wärtsilä power plant, called ‘KivuWatt’, has been built in in Kibuye, Rwanda and runs on methane extracted from nearby lake Kivu.
The gas is taken from a depth of 300 meters by a special barge (pictured) anchored 13 km offshore. It is then is purified on the barge and transported to the shore through an underwater pipeline where it is then used to power the engines of the power plant.
Lake Kivu is known as the ‘killer lake’ because of the large quantities of methane gas trapped under a layer of heavy water washed out of the nearby volcanoes. When the gas concentration gets too high, or the lake is hit by one of the region’s regular earthquakes, the gas can be set free which poses a threat to the people living around the volcanoes.
Photo: Wärtsilä
