Hobart McRobies Gully Landfill Gas Abatement Facility

Hobart McRobies Gully Landfill Gas Abatement Facility is an Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas project located at the McRobies Gully Waste Management Centre in South Hobart, approximately 3km west of the Hobart city centre in Tasmania. It was registered in August 2013 and covers an undefined project area, as it seamlessly encompasses the active and legacy footprint of the existing municipal landfill.

Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas projects involve the installation of infrastructure to capture and combust methane-rich biogas generated by decomposing organic waste. By capturing this gas, the project prevents highly potent greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. Under the electricity generation methodology, the captured methane is not only destroyed but is actively used as a base-load fuel source to generate renewable power.

The region surrounding South Hobart is situated in the forested foothills of Mount Wellington, characterized by a mix of native bushland, urban residential development, and the municipal waste management site itself. The area experiences a temperate maritime climate with moderate rainfall, while the local geology and soil composition typically feature podzolic soils overlaying mudstone and sandstone bedrock.

This project, operated by LMS Energy in partnership with the City of Hobart, continues to capture and combust gas generated at the landfill from both legacy and non-legacy waste. It has transitioned through several methodology variations since its inception, moving from a revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) method to the 2015 Landfill Gas method, and finally transitioning to the 2021 Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas method in February 2022. The project was contracted in April 2015 under the Emissions Reduction Fund and successfully completed its fixed-delivery Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC354956) in February 2023, delivering its committed 84,000 tonnes of abatement.

An interesting local environmental note is that the facility, known locally as "The Tip", sits just above the Hobart Rivulet. The City of Hobart recently installed a gross pollutant trap below the site to prevent escaped landfill litter from entering the waterway. This $600,000 investment was specifically designed to protect local aquatic life, including native platypus populations, from entanglement. Additionally, a new upgrade project (ERF173759) was registered at the same site in July 2022 to continue enhancing the landfill's gas collection system.