Wollert Landfill Gas Project

Wollert Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas electricity generation project located at the Hanson Wollert Landfill, approximately 25 kilometers north of the Melbourne CBD in Victoria. Registered in November 2012, the project operates within a major waste management and resource recovery hub situated on the Victorian Volcanic Plains. The surrounding region is characterized by heavy clay and basalt soils typical of the "Newer Volcanics" geology, with land use historically dominated by quarrying and grazing, though it is now rapidly transitioning into a residential growth corridor.

The project operates under the Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas methodology. This involves an extensive network of wells and pipes installed into the landfill cells to actively extract methane gas produced by decomposing organic waste. Instead of allowing this potent greenhouse gas to vent into the atmosphere, the project captures it and combusts it in internal combustion engines. This process converts the methane into less harmful carbon dioxide and generates renewable baseload electricity that is exported to the local grid.

The facility is a significant renewable energy asset, housing eight engines with a combined generation capacity of 8.8 megawatts. An interesting feature of this site is its integration of multiple renewable technologies; in addition to the gas generators, the site hosts Australia's first pilot landfill solar project, where solar panels were successfully installed on the capped landfill surface. The project has a complex regulatory history, having transitioned through multiple methodology variations since the original Carbon Farming Initiative. notably, in 2013, the proponent was required to relinquish nearly 23,000 Kyoto ACCUs, a rare regulatory adjustment that was settled by relinquishing units from a different project at the Awaba Landfill.