Capture and Combustion of Landfill Gas from Benaraby Landfill Project

Capture and Combustion of Landfill Gas from Benaraby Landfill Project is an electricity generation from landfill gas project located at Benaraby Landfill, approximately 3km south of Benaraby and 20km south of Gladstone in Queensland. It was registered in January 2013 and covers the active and inactive footprint of the regional waste facility.

Electricity generation from landfill gas projects involve installing a new or upgraded gas collection system to capture methane produced by decomposing organic waste. The standard requirement is that the captured gas is combusted in a gas engine or generator, which destroys the highly potent methane and converts it into renewable, dispatchable electricity that can be exported to the grid.

The Gladstone and Benaraby region is characterised by a sub-tropical climate with high summer rainfall. The soils in the immediate Boyne River catchment and alluvial plains are predominantly alluvial loams, clay loams, and brown kandosols. Regional land use includes a mix of cattle grazing, agriculture, state forestry, and major industrial operations closer to Gladstone.

This project transitioned from a revoked methodology and continues to capture and combust gas generated at the landfill from both legacy and non-legacy waste. Operated by LGI Limited for the Gladstone Regional Council, the project actively destroys approximately 95 tonnes of methane every month. According to the Council, upon its official registration on January 25, 2013, it was the first new abatement project registered in Australia under the carbon offset scheme. The site initially began by flaring the gas before successfully transitioning into a renewable power generation station, an achievement that led to it winning a National Award for Local Government in 2017.