The engineers aboard the floating power station on Lake Kivu could only watch nervously as the volcano in the distance erupted violently, sending tremors through the water beneath them.
It was not the lava shooting from Mount Nyiragongo that scared them, but the huge concentrations of potentially explosive gases within Kivu, one of Africa's great Rift lakes.
Kivu is not quite the picture of tranquility it seems, according to Francois Darchambeau from KivuWatt, a company that extracts gas from the lake's waters for electricity.
Thousands of years of volcanic activity has caused a huge amount of methane and carbon dioxide to be dissolved in the depths of Kivu, which is enough to prove monumentally destructive in the rare event they were released.
If triggered, a huge explosion of gas from deep waters to the surface would cause large waves and a poisonous gas cloud that would put the lives of millions at risk.
The limnologist, or an expert in freshwater systems, told Agence France-Presse that this is a killer lake.
There are only three lakes in the world: Kivu, Lakes Nyos and Monoun.
In the 1980s, there were two limnic eruptions and the biggest disaster in the history of the world, where more than 1,700 people were killed in a toxic release of carbon dioxide.
Some 2 million people would be at risk of a similar disaster if it happened in a rural area.
Many people live in fear of the lake, and there are many stories of swimmers disappearing into its depths after being pulled under.
The lake has both promise and peril.
The only project of its kind anywhere in the world, KivuWatt, saw an opportunity to tap these abundant gases for energy generation.
A 20-minute speedboat ride is required to reach the unique floating platform, a tangle of pipes and buoys as high as a multi-storey building.
Simon Maina is a reporter for the Associated Press.
Methane gas is being produced by a barge at the KivuWatt power plant.
The facility pumps water with carbon dioxide and methane from around 350 meters to the surface.
As the pressure changes, the water and gas separate.
The project is half way between a thermal and a renewable energy plant, according to KivuWatt director Priysham Nundah.
A second facility in Rwanda converts the methane into electricity.
The carbon dioxide is pumped back into the lake to make sure the balance is not upset.
The company hopes that by removing methane over time, it will be able to reduce the pressure on the lake.
There were fears of a disaster when the active volcano north of Kivu roared to life in early 2021.
The lava flow killed 32 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. There was a second wave of lava under the lake.
The sky turned red and angry as engineers from KivuWatt watched from their station.
Nundah said it was very frightening.
When the rates of earthquakes began to rise, no one could say what would happen.
The engineers held their nerve despite a shutdown being considered.
30 percent of the annual electricity consumed in the East African nation is produced by KivuWatt.
In 2015, the Lake Kivu venture was launched by American company KivuWatt, which considered expanding its capacity from 26 to 100 megawatts.
A company is looking into the possibility of launching a 56-megawatt gas venture on the lake. There are no plans for such a project in the short term.
How long it will take to deplete these vast gas reserves will depend on the pace of extraction, according to a researcher at the Swiss Institute for Water and Environmental Research.
He said it would take centuries to have a reduction of methane in the lake.
Agence France-Presse
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