KivuWatt

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The KivuWatt Power Project is located in the Kibuye area of the District of Karongi in the Western Province of Rwanda. The project was to extract methane from the waters of Lake Kivu and use the gas to generate electricity. The project was to be developed by KivuWatt Ltd., a subsidiary of ContourGlobal. Phase 1 of the project, which will generate 25MW, was expected to start commercial operation by July 2012. Phase 2 of the project, which was to generate an additional 75 MW, was expected to start construction six months after Phase 1 was commissioned, and to be completed by 2014. The full project size of 100MW would have exceeded Rwanda’s entire installed base of 75-80MW. Phase 2 of the project would require an additional $260 million of financing, for a total cost of $400 million to develop the 100MW concession. KivuWatt was to sell power under a 25-year concession agreement signed by the Government of Rwanda in 2009. Output was to be sold to the Rwandan state-owned utility, Electrogaz, through a 25-year power purchase agreement worth $325 million. ContourGlobal closed the financing for the $142 million project. ContourGlobal holds a $50.5 million equity investment since 2011. Additionally, ContourGlobal obtained $91.5 million in support from various multilateral organizations. The debt facility had a tenor of 15 years which includes a two-year construction phase. The African Development Bank and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund each provided $25 million in debt, while the Dutch Development Bank, FMO provided $41.5 million of which $10 million were sold down to Belgium’s development bank, BIO. MIGA signed a political risk guarantee covering 90% of CG’s first equity tranche of $28 million. The methane extraction gas facility barge for phase one of the project was to be moved into position 14km into the lake and connected with a semi-submerged pipeline to the generating station. Wartsila of Finland was manufacturing the turbines was constructing the power generating station. The power plant site was sized to accommodate both phase one and two generation, including room for a new 220 kV switch yard which was to be built on the site to support the interconnection to the planned 220kV transmission system. Phase one output was to be connected to the national grid via a 11 kV transmission line installed by Electrogaz. Phase two was to be connected to the existing 220 kV transmission system via two new transformers to be installed by ContourGlobal’s subsidiary KivuWatt Ltd. Studies have confirmed availability of 55 billion cubic meters of methane gas, sufficient to generate 700MW of electricity for 55 years. 350MW of this belongs to Rwanda, the other half to the DRC. In February, 2012, MIGA issued a guarantee of $66.8 million to ContourGlobal Africa (Mauritius). The 20year coverage includes: expropriation, transfer restriction, war and civil disturbance, and breach of contract. This guarantee replaces a previous guarantee issued in FY2011 and brings the total to $95.4 million. In March 2013, the plant became operational. http://www.miga.org/documents/KivuWatt_ESIA.pdf