'Lucas Heights 2 Landfill Gas Project

Lucas Heights 2 Landfill Gas Project is an electricity generation from landfill gas project located at Lucas Heights, approximately 30km southwest of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales. Registered in December 2012, the exact project area size is unknown, but it operates out of the local waste management center.

Electricity generation from landfill gas projects involve the active capture of biogas, primarily methane, produced by the decomposition of organic matter in landfill sites. Instead of allowing this potent greenhouse gas to vent into the atmosphere, the captured gas is combusted to drive reciprocating engines or flares that produce electricity, successfully reducing emissions and providing renewable power to the grid.

The Lucas Heights area is known for its major resource recovery park, native bushland, and a nearby national nuclear research facility. The region is considered high rainfall, averaging over 1100 mm annually, and local soils are typically Hawkesbury sandstone-derived sandy loams and podzols.

This project transitioned from a revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) legacy waste method, eventually moving to the 2015 method, and most recently varying to the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2021 in February 2022. Run by EDL LFG (NSW) Pty Ltd, a major developer in the bioenergy sector, the Lucas Heights 2 facility holds a substantial generating capacity of 16.7 MW. Additionally, the project successfully fulfilled a government Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC781436) which was completed in September 2022.