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| Gisimenti round about: a popular commercial venue |
Recently in july 2011, when I asked one of the gas retailers at Gisimenti (very known place in Kigali for its commerce activities ) about the origin of the gas he was providing , the quick response was the fact that all the gas used is Rwanda was coming from Kenya.
When simply surfing on google, I found out that the levels of consumption remained low, at an average of 750 grammes per year in the five East African states. Most of the LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas ) used in Kenya, that imports 100,000 metric tonnes and has an average usage of 2 kilogrammes. As it have been revealed in the workshop aiming to set up a cooking gas storage plant in Mombasa According to east African newspaper of july 6 2011.
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| world gas consumption map |
And according to the same newspaper of june2011 projections are that The $325 million gas-to-power project owned by ContourGlobal, a US based oil and gas firm, is expected to generate 100MW if completed as scheduled in 2012.
With the efforts put in developing and exploring the methane gas in lake Kivu (neglecting the controversial stories on the environmental risk and impact as published in the Guardian newspaper of October 2010
In a bathymetrc study of the lake Kivu done in 2009 using a 3D capabilities of GIS software by the centre for GIS and Remote Sensing of the National University of Rwanda and in numerous other studies conducted on lake Kivu to stimulate an environmental friendly exploitation it has been proven that the technology is working and the first demonstration to feed in the electric national grid have been done .
Rwanda should expect to get affordable gas to be utilized as cooking means so that we can at the same time get an alternative source of cooking energy and save the environment which has been the priority preoccupation in the country which organized the world environmental day in 2010 from its successful implementation of the protection policies as spearheaded by REMA the body in charge for environment in Rwanda
But Constraints are still exiting :
The education and experience factor :
The information is not appropriately disseminated, people still fear the explosion of the gas when installed at home as it could be a source of accident but when you compare the use of these means in countries like India , US and Europe you could expect that people shouldn't be taking the matter as a mysterious as that .
The cost factor :
people still fear the cost but from an opinion point of view even if the gas is still expensive it is worth a try with simple comparison between the gas use and charcoal
the big bag of charcoal in Kigali , cost about 7000 rfw (about 10 euros ) could serve for a family averaged for 5 people for less than one month making a budget for 6 months of 42000 rfw (about 500 euros ) when compared to estimates of one bottle of 20 kg of gaz with a cost approximately 35000 rfw (400 euros ) which could serve for a family of 5 people for at least 4 months making the budget for the 6 months around 50000 rfw ( 550 euros )
the price is still high but there is even an economic gain in terms of cost and time but with a condition of education for the end user , for example the beans one of the main source of the cereals in Rwanda known to be the first energy and time consuming crops when preparing but initiatives have been set up to sell the cooked beans in popular suburb areas like Nyamirambo in Kigali with relatively low price.
Lack of technology disciples
there is also lack of information on the installation information which could be between 100000 rfw (110 euros)to 400000(440 euros ) depending on the expertise and source of the installation
but there are still people who tend to make it a monopoly, petrol stations refusing to fill bottles which are not theirs brands
the whole future maintenance of the lake Kivu project would also be tagged with a question mark if there is no technical trainings are provided for future local engineers and technicians who will be the first users of the facilities for a sustainable maintenance even when the project will be phasing out after the first installation and hand over .
A look at world experience
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| Gas bottles , Source: Wikipedia |
when comparing to countries where the gas utilization has been success for example in
India (according to Times of India News paper
) even if the prices are day by day going up there are still affordable when compared to other expenses
In Europe also for example in Italie or France
The prices are still affordable when comparing to the recent hike in electricity bills like it was published in la stampa
Finally, one would recommend for a fast growing economy like Rwanda where the average growth is 7 percent to put more efforts in making the priority the gas exploitation as a cooking means and that people are aware and encouraged on the benefits of using such a an environmental friendly means of cooking energy at the same time mitigating the old story that you can’t live in the same house with a bottle full of gas .
This could go in the same direction of the recent discovery of the petroleum in Uganda and Tanzania to make the dream a reality of the East Africa full of the resources committed first of all to serve the interests of its citizens .
This article displays an unfortunate lack of knowledge of the situation in Rwanda. The LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) supply form refineries in Kenya is not the same, nor can it be used the same way as gas from Lake Kivu.
The gas from Lake Kivu is methane, not a mixture of propane, butane and pentane that is LPG. Methane, with some carbon dioxide, as produced from Lake Kivu does not liquefy or compress easily although a small demonstration plant was erected by the EU in Gisenyi, Rwanda in the 1980's. This operated briefly but shut down as it was targeted at minibus taxis. This was a mistake as engines powered by this compressed gas lost 25% of their power output, not a good idea in a mountainous country.
However if the right (low-cost) pipeline distribution systems were used, households could get a gas supply cheaper than LPG, cheaper than charcoal and also cheaper than firewood. Unfortunately this has not been attempted and even Rwanda's Gas Law states that the gas must be used solely for power production. Whoever drafted this regulation was very short-sighted as gas used directly for cooking is both more efficient and cheaper to the end-user than electricity.
As for the cost of gas, it can be distributed economically in a country like Rwanda to households and industries at a cost of $10 per GJ (gigajoule), equivalent to about 30 cubic metres. Families in Rwanda could use at most 0.5 GJ per month and could get by with less, saving from 50 -80% of their monthly household expenses using LPG, electrcity or charcoal. In my opinion it is part of an ideal situation where many houses could connect to electrical power and gas, for those better off, and the poorer households could get most of their energy from just a gas connection.
All of the technologies and equipment for this type of supply is available in many parts of the world that have natural gas supplies to houses.
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LPG Bottled Gas
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