Gosnells Landfill Gas Abatement Facility

Gosnells Landfill Gas Abatement Facility is a landfill gas abatement waste project located at the Kelvin Road landfill site in Orange Grove, approximately 20km southeast of the Perth CBD in Western Australia. It was registered in August 2013. Rather than operating over a large broadacre area, this project operates specifically within the footprint of the municipal waste management facility.

Landfill gas methodology projects involve installing a network of gas collection wells and piping to extract methane generated by decomposing organic waste. The standard requirements involve actively capturing this biogas and destroying the methane through combustion. This is usually done by flaring the gas or using it to generate electricity, a process that converts the highly potent methane into less harmful carbon dioxide.

The Gosnells area features a Mediterranean climate characterized by hot, dry summers and high winter rainfall, averaging around 775mm annually. Soils in this region, sitting near the Darling Scarp, typically consist of sandy topsoils, clayey sands, and colluvial red earths containing ironstone gravel. The surrounding land use is a mix of industrial operations, waste management, and encroaching urban development.

This project transitioned from a revoked early Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) method to continue capturing gas from both legacy and non-legacy waste. The site has a long history of renewable energy generation; the original landfill gas power station on this site was officially opened by the Western Australian Energy Minister back in 2004. Over its lifetime, the carbon project has changed hands multiple times, starting with AGL Energy Services, transitioning to Sustainable Energy Infrastructure Trust, and finally transferring to LMS Energy Pty Ltd in 2022. The facility successfully completed its Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC197358) in April 2023, delivering over 39,500 fixed abatement units to the Commonwealth. Today, LMS Energy continues to manage a 1.1 MW biogas facility on the site, helping provide clean energy to the grid while simultaneously destroying harmful greenhouse emissions.