American energy firm, Contour Global, is to produce energy from methane gas in Lake Kivu in a $300 million deal signed in Kigali.

Contour Global expects to produce energy amounting to about 100MW over the next 25 years, according to the concession agreement. The first phase of the project, the first of its kind world wide, will produce 25MW by 2010.

The project is expected to be the biggest source of energy in the country. The pilot phase of the project in Rubavu district is producting 2MW, enough power to light up the district.

Currently, Rwanda relies on 60MW generated from different energy projects and the methane project is part of a government programme aimed at increasing the power generation capacity to meet future energy demands.

Lake Kivu has massive deposits of methane to sustain production for a very long time.