Dakabin Landfill Gas Project

Dakabin Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas electricity generation project located at the Dakabin Waste Management Facility, approximately 30km north of the Brisbane CBD in Queensland. Registered in April 2014, the project operates within a peri-urban zone that has transitioned from historical semi-rural and grazing land uses to significant residential development.

Projects operating under the Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas methodology involve installing an active gas collection system to extract methane-rich biogas generated by the decomposition of organic waste in a landfill. Rather than releasing this potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, the methane is captured and combusted in dedicated gas engines to generate renewable electricity which is fed into the local grid.

The local Moreton Bay region experiences a subtropical climate with high annual rainfall typically exceeding 1,000mm. These moist and warm conditions are highly beneficial as they accelerate the biological breakdown of waste, thereby increasing the rate of landfill gas production. The soil profile in the Dakabin area is generally characterized by texture-contrast soils, frequently featuring loamy topsoils overlying clay subsoils.

This project operates as a partnership between the site owner, Moreton Bay Regional Council, and the operator, LGI Limited. LGI Limited originally commissioned the site's initial 1MW generator in 2015 and later expanded its capacity to roughly 2MW in 2018 using GE Jenbacher gas engines. The Dakabin site is part of a broader renewable energy strategy by the council, which includes similar bundled gas-to-energy operations at its nearby Bunya and Caboolture facilities. Together, these sites capture biogas that has the capacity to power thousands of local homes. The project successfully secured a Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC752641) with the Australian Government in April 2017 to deliver 313,410 tonnes of carbon abatement, which was fully completed by May 2022.