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 the Benaraby Landfill, approximately 20km south of Gladstone in Queensland. Registered in January 2013, the exact project area size is undefined, as it operates within the specific footprint of the existing waste management facility. The surrounding Gladstone region features a mix of rural residential lots, cattle grazing, and heavy industrial land use. The local area experiences a subtropical climate characterized by high, summer-dominant rainfall and predominantly coastal clay and alluvial soils.

Electricity generation from landfill gas projects involve installing or upgrading gas collection systems to capture methane produced by decomposing organic waste. Under this methodology, the captured landfill gas is combusted in a generator to produce renewable electricity, thereby preventing methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, from freely entering the atmosphere.

A highly notable fact about this project is that upon its registration by the Clean Energy Regulator on 25 January 2013, it was officially recognized as the first new abatement project registered in Australia. Operated by the proponent LGI Limited on behalf of the Gladstone Regional Council, the site utilizes a 1MW generator to combust landfill gas generated from both legacy and non-legacy waste. Originally contracted in April 2015, the project successfully completed its initial carbon abatement contract (CAC342427). To ensure ongoing compliance and generation of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), it has continually transitioned to updated Clean Energy Regulator methodologies, moving from the 2012 and 2015 determinations to currently operating under the 2021 Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas method.