Shoalhaven Landfill Gas Abatement Facility (Revoked)

Shoalhaven Landfill Gas Abatement Facility is a landfill gas project located at the West Nowra Recycling and Waste Depot, approximately 5 kilometres west of Nowra in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales. It was registered in August 2013 and covers an undefined project area specific to the facility's municipal waste footprint. The surrounding Shoalhaven area is heavily known for coastal tourism, native forestry, and dairy farming, while the immediate project area itself operates as a local council waste facility.

Landfill gas projects involve installing specialised infrastructure to capture and combust methane generated by decomposing organic waste. Under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015, these projects must demonstrate the ongoing operation of a gas collection system that prevents methane from entering the atmosphere by safely burning it via flares or using it to generate electricity.

The Nowra area experiences a temperate coastal climate with generally high seasonal rainfall. The soils in the broader Shoalhaven floodplain and surrounding coastal plains typically consist of sandy loams and alluvial clays, whereas the landfill site utilises compacted clays for environmental containment and leachate management.

The project has an interesting administrative history. It was initially operated by AGL Energy Services Pty Limited before the proponent role was formally transferred to the Shoalhaven City Council in July 2019. By partnering with LGI Limited as an agent, the council upgraded the site's biogas management system, installing two LGI 1000 Series ERF compliant flares to more than triple the site's biogas recovery rates. This expansion has opened pathways for a new dispatchable renewable hybrid power station equipped with advanced battery storage. Although the ACCU project was officially revoked from the Emissions Reduction Fund in February 2021, the facility continues to capture and combust gas from both legacy and non-legacy waste. This ongoing partnership initiative has already reduced the council's carbon footprint by roughly 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, an emissions reduction comparable to planting 1.8 million seedlings or removing 14,400 cars from the road for an entire year.