RWANDA-DRCONGO-ENVIRONMENT-ENERGY-VOLCANO

Cyprien Bigirimana, a maintainance technician, is seen inside the barge extracting methane gas on Lake Kivu, at the Kivuwatt power plant in Kibuye, Karongi District, in the Western Province of Rwanda, on November 1, 2021. - Thousands of years of volcanic activity has caused a massive accumulation of methane and carbon dioxide to dissolve in the depths of lake Kivu, enough to prove monumentally destructive if released. If triggered, a so-called limnic eruption would cause "a huge explosion of gas from deep waters to the surface" resulting in tsunamis and a poisonous gas cloud that would put the lives of millions at risk. Only three such killer lakes exist in the world: Kivu, and Lakes Nyos and Monoun in northwest Cameroon. KivuWatt, the only project of its kind anywhere in the world, saw an opportunity to tap these abundant gases for energy generation. the facility pumps water saturated with carbon dioxide and methane from around 350 metres (1,150 feet) to the surface. As it rises, the water and gas separate as the pressure changes. The extracted methane is sent through a pipeline to a second facility located onshore in Rwanda, where the biogas is transformed into electricity. The carbon dioxide is pumped back into the lake at a precise enough depth to ensure the delicate balance is not upset. As the methane is gradually removed, pressure is reduced in the lake, in turn lowering the risk of a limnic eruption. (Photo by Simon MAINA / AFP) (Photo by SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images)