Rwanda, Kigali
In an effort to address acute energy shortages and depletion of forests in Rwanda, CRET Sarl — a local biogas technology company — is to begin converting biogas to compressed natural gas (CNG), according to reports in Rwanda’s The New Times. The time frame for implementation is unknown but likely to be long-term as the company seeks a suitable partner and investors for building bio-digesters and compression technology. Ndayisaba mentioned that they have found a partner from India to provide technical assistance to the project.
In an interview with The Business Times, Managing Director Edouard Ndayisaba said that his company is venturing into production of CNG after successfully dealing in installation of Biogas plants in the country for almost four years. This will be the first company in the region to convert biogas into CNG. Since 2006, CRET has installed more than 40 household, community and institutional biogas plants.
Biogas technology is taught at Tumba College of Technology (TCT), which has celebrated the recent graduation of 25 ‘biogas’ students. At the college in Feb 2009, Minister of State for Energy Engineering, Albert Butare, urged students to put much effort in the production of biogas. He said the government is committed to support students acquire skills for production of Biogas energy through bilateral cooperation with the governments of Japan, Netherlands and Germany. “Our plan is to have over 15,000 units of Biogas in the entire country by 2011,” he added.