Swanbank Landfill Gas Project

The Swanbank Landfill Gas Project is a waste management and energy generation facility located within the Swanbank Enterprise Park, approximately 10 kilometers southeast of Ipswich and 40 kilometers southwest of Brisbane in Queensland. Registered in February 2013, the project operates at the Swanbank Renewable Energy and Waste Management Facility. The surrounding region is a dedicated industrial precinct heavily defined by historical coal mining, power generation, and waste services, distinct from the broader grazing and residential land uses of the Ipswich area.

The project currently operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2021. This methodology rewards the capture and combustion of methane, a potent greenhouse gas released by decomposing organic waste in landfills. By directing this gas into generation units to produce electricity, the project not only prevents methane from venting into the atmosphere but also exports renewable energy to the grid, displacing fossil-fuel-based power.

Environmentally, the site is situated in a sub-tropical climate zone characterized by warm, humid summers and mild winters with significant rainfall. The local geology is complex due to extensive historical disturbance from open-cut coal mining; soils in the broader Ipswich corridor are typically described as hard acidic mottled duplex soils and dark cracking clays, though the immediate project site consists largely of engineered landfill caps and rehabilitated mine spoil.

The project is a long-standing joint venture between the proponent, LMS Energy, and the landfill operator, Remondis Australia. Notably, the facility powers over 1,000 homes annually and has a history of innovation; prior to the current bioenergy facility, gas from the landfill was piped directly to the nearby CS Energy coal-fired power station to supplement combustion. The project has successfully matured through several methodology transitions and completed its carbon abatement contract (CAC143500) with the Australian Government in 2021.