Capture and Combustion of Landfill Gas from Willawong Landfill Project

Capture and Combustion of Landfill Gas from Willawong Landfill Project is an electricity generation from landfill gas project located at Willawong, approximately 16km south of the Brisbane central business district in Queensland. It was registered in March 2013 and operates on a mid-sized, closed landfill site. The surrounding Willawong region is predominantly characterised by urban and industrial land use.

Electricity generation from landfill gas projects involve capturing methane, a potent greenhouse gas produced by decomposing organic waste, and combusting it in a generator to produce renewable electricity.

The Brisbane area experiences a humid subtropical climate considered to have high rainfall. The native soils in this region are typically alluvial clays, although the project area itself consists of heavily modified earth and capped cells typical of a remediated municipal landfill.

This project continues to capture and combust gas generated from legacy and non-legacy waste using a 600kW generator. Despite the Willawong landfill being closed to waste for over 20 years, it still produces enough biogas to consistently fuel the power station. Managed by LGI Limited, the project was originally set up in conjunction with the Brisbane City Council. In addition to creating carbon credits, the project provides significant co-benefits such as improving local air quality, providing dispatchable baseload and peak power to the grid, and mitigating the risk of landfill gas migrating into the surrounding environment.