Glenorchy Landfill Gas Abatement Facility

Glenorchy Landfill Gas Abatement Facility is a landfill gas project located at the Jackson Street Landfill in Glenorchy, Tasmania, approximately 10 kilometers northwest of the Hobart CBD. Registered in August 2013, the project operates within a major waste management facility that serves the Glenorchy municipality and surrounding areas. The site is situated in an industrial zone near the foothills of Mount Wellington (kunyani), bridging the urban environment and the natural bushland of the Wellington Park reserve.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2021. This methodology incentivizes the installation and operation of systems that capture methane, a potent greenhouse gas generated by decomposing organic waste, and combust it to generate electricity. By converting methane into carbon dioxide and energy, the project prevents high-global-warming-potential gas from entering the atmosphere while simultaneously feeding renewable power into the local grid.

Environmental conditions in the Glenorchy area are characterized by a cool temperate climate with moderate rainfall, typically averaging around 600mm to 800mm annually, as the region sits in the rain shadow of Mount Wellington. While the landfill itself utilizes engineered clay liners and geosynthetic materials to contain waste and leachate, the surrounding native soil landscape typically consists of podzolic soils and clays derived from the Jurassic dolerite and sedimentary bedrock common to the Derwent Valley.

LMS Energy Pty Ltd, the project proponent, is a leading bioenergy company in Australia. A notable aspect of this project is its long operational history, having successfully transitioned through multiple iterations of carbon abatement methods, from the original 2012 legacy waste determination to the current 2021 electricity generation standard. The facility not only reduces emissions but also turns a waste byproduct into a community asset, generating base-load renewable energy.