Hervey Bay Landfill Gas Project

Hervey Bay Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas capture project located at the Fraser Coast Regional Council's waste facility in Nikenbah, approximately 8km southwest of the Hervey Bay city centre in Queensland. Registered in March 2015, the project operates on a waste management site situated in a region characterized by a mix of peri-urban residential development and light agricultural land use, including grazing.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015. This methodology involves the installation of a network of vertical wells and horizontal pipes to extract biogas (primarily methane) generated by the decomposition of organic waste. The captured gas is combusted using a flaring system, specifically an LGI 250e flare. This process converts methane, which has a high global warming potential, into carbon dioxide, thereby significantly reducing the facility's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The Hervey Bay region experiences a subtropical climate with an average annual rainfall of approximately 900mm to 1000mm, with the highest precipitation typically occurring in late summer and early autumn. The local terrain generally consists of sandy loams and clay loams, common to the Fraser Coast's coastal plains.

LGI Limited, the project proponent, manages the site under a long-term contract with the Fraser Coast Regional Council. An interesting feature of this project is its application to a "closed" landfill cell; while the site no longer actively accepts general waste in this specific area, the legacy waste continues to produce methane that requires management. The project previously held a carbon abatement contract (CAC102350) with the Australian Government, which has now been completed, though the system continues to operate to mitigate environmental impacts and generate ACCUs.