Rwanda is set to generate over 250 million cubic metres of methane per year when it starts extracting the huge deposits recently discovered in Lake Kivu.

According to Minister for Energy Dr Albert Butare, collaboration with Democratic Republic of Congo on the exploitation of methane will help the two countries exploit the full potential of the deposit, which stands at 55 billion litres.

"Our negotiations with DRC are progressing well. Once we strike a deal, we will be able to generate more than 200MW in a year," Dr Butare told the2nd EAC investment conference in Nairobi last week.

He said that the government was in the process of signing a number of agreements with foreign and local investors to extract the gas.

Currently, the country is carrying out two pilot projects expected to generate 50MW of power.

In May, Contour Global said that its subsidiary Contour Global Kivuwatt Ltd signed an agreement with Rwanda to develop an integrated gas extraction and electricity generation facility that will provide 100MW of natural gas-fired electricity to Rwanda and the East African region.

Contour Global's $325 million Kivuwatt project will be the first large scale facility to extract methane from the depths of Lake Kivu, a deep water lake located on the border of Rwanda and the DRC.

Extracting the gas will greatly mitigate the environmental hazards associated with a natural release of the lake gasses and provide an environmentally friendly and sustainable source of power generation," a report from Contour Global said.

Dr Butare says Contour Global will develop, construct and operate a platform-based gas extraction system that will be moored off the Rwandan coast and will extract methane gas from a depth of more than 350 metres.

"The gas will be processed and transported by pipeline to Contour Global's power plant being developed in Kibuye. The power plant is the first Independent Power Project developed in Rwanda and will more than double the amount of electricity currently generated inside the country," he said.

Electricity generated by the project will be available for use by Uganda, Congo and Burundi.

For the past two years, Contour Global has been designing and developing the project and has conducted extensive seabed surveys.

The project will be carried out in two phases: The first phase of 25 MW to be operational in 2010 and the second phase of 75 MW going into operation in 2012.

It is not the first time Rwanda has tried to exploit the methane. Efforts date to the 1960s, and a previous pilot programme generated enough electricity to power a local brewery.

the Rwanda government has over the year expressed optimism that the landmark power project would succeed especially with the use of modern technology.

In June 2007, Rwanda signed an agreement with an Israeli company that started working on the project.

Last year, in May, the country extracted methane gas from the lake for the first time.

Rwanda's total power demand is around 60MW which is mainly met by hydro and thermal power generation plants.