Methane-power generation plants exist, but the effort in Rwanda is the first to try extract the gas from underwater and burn it to fuel an electricity plant, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Scientists say gas levels in the lake have been rising steadily because of a pool of methane and carbon dioxide at the bottom of the deep-water lake straddling the Rwanda-Democratic Republic of Congo border.

Besides hoping to provide energy, the Rwandan government is undertaking the risk-filled project to avert a catastrophe at the lake where 2 million people live.

The government this month began a $15 million pilot project intended to power a four-megawatt generator with the lake's methane, the Times said. A floating platform dropped a pipe more than 300 feet deep to tap into the methane-laced water.

"It's the first of its kind in the world," said Albert Butare, the Rwandan minister of state for infrastructure. "In the beginning, it was a myth. But now the technology is promising."

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