Albury Landfill Gas Project

Albury Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas to electricity generation project located at the Albury Waste Management Centre, approximately 5 kilometres from the centre of Albury in southern New South Wales. Registered in February 2013, the exact project area is undefined, but the site manages municipal waste for the surrounding regional urban centre. The broader region, particularly the Riverina and South West Slopes, is heavily utilised for agricultural grazing and varied cropping.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas) Methodology. This project type involves the active collection of methane gas, a highly potent greenhouse gas produced by the decomposition of legacy and non-legacy organic waste in the landfill. The captured gas is combusted in a 2.6 MW capacity bioenergy facility to produce renewable electricity. This standard requirement both destroys the methane to reduce direct emissions and generates power to offset fossil fuel usage on the local grid.

The local environment around Albury experiences a temperate climate with medium rainfall, averaging roughly 700mm annually. The region's agricultural soils are predominantly Chromosols and Dermosols, characterised by loamy topsoils over clay subsoils, alongside fertile alluvial deposits situated near the Murray River.

An interesting feature of this project is its integration into the wider 'Albury Renewable Energy Hub'. Through a partnership between AlburyCity, LMS Energy, and Joule Energy, the capped section of the landfill hosts Australia's first reclaimed landfill solar farm. Commissioned in 2019, the 1.1MW solar array consists of 4,000 panels. To overcome the engineering challenges of building on a closed landfill, the project utilised a ballasted mounting system (5B Maverick) that requires minimal ground penetration, ensuring the landfill's protective gas-capture membrane remains intact. Combined with the LMS Energy biogas facility, the hub provides substantial emission-free electricity to the local community.