Molendinar Landfill Gas Project

Molendinar Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas abatement project located in Molendinar, a suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland, situated approximately 10 kilometres northwest of the major coastal hub of Surfers Paradise and 70 kilometres south of Brisbane. The project was registered on July 21, 2014, and operates over the municipal landfill site. The broader Gold Coast region is characterised by high-density urban, commercial, and industrial land uses, interspersed with peri-urban fringes. The area experiences a subtropical climate with high rainfall, and regional soil profiles generally consist of coastal Kurosols, Dermosols, and alluvial clays, though the immediate project area is heavily modified due to waste management operations.

Landfill gas projects involve the installation of a gas collection system to capture methane-rich gas that is naturally produced as organic waste decomposes inside a landfill. Under the standard methodology requirements, the captured methane must be channelled to a combustion device (such as a flare or an electricity generation engine). By combusting the gas, the methane, which has a significantly higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide, is destroyed, preventing it from freely venting into the atmosphere.

Interestingly, this project transitioned from an older, revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) method and continues to successfully process both legacy and non-legacy waste. Operated by LMS Energy Pty Ltd in partnership with the City of Gold Coast, the site actively turns the captured methane into renewable electricity. According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the Molendinar facility uses this landfill methane to power a 0.48-megawatt spark ignition reciprocating engine. The project secured an initial carbon abatement contract with the Clean Energy Regulator in April 2017, successfully completing its delivery obligations for contract CAC873169 in June 2022.