Visy Paper Reservoir Energy Efficiency Project

Visy Paper Reservoir Energy Efficiency Project is an energy efficiency project located at Reservoir, an industrial suburb approximately 12km north of Melbourne's Central Business District in Victoria. It was registered in May 2015 and operates within an active industrial manufacturing site rather than a traditional land-based or agricultural area.

Industrial electricity and fuel efficiency projects involve upgrading commercial and industrial facilities to reduce overall energy consumption and avoid greenhouse gas emissions. The standard requirements under this methodology determination involve calculating a baseline of historical energy usage, implementing eligible equipment upgrades, and continuously measuring the resulting emissions avoidance. For this specific facility, project activities targeted the avoidance of emissions through lighting upgrades, heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system upgrades, boiler optimizations, and the installation of variable speed drives.

Because the Reservoir site is situated in metropolitan Melbourne, the immediate environment is a heavily urbanised industrial zone. Historically, the northern suburbs of Melbourne feature basaltic heavy clay soils, and the wider catchment region typically receives a temperate, moderate annual rainfall of approximately 600 mm. However, because this is a facility-based emissions reduction project, local land use is entirely dedicated to large-scale paper manufacturing rather than environmental plantings or agricultural operations.

This project was set up to improve the sustainability and energy footprint of Visy Paper's manufacturing operations. An interesting fact about the Visy Reservoir paper mill, which originally opened in 1983, is that it recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, having produced enough paper over its lifetime to stretch to the moon and back eight times. Among the energy efficiency upgrades carried out on-site was the installation of custom Power Factor Correction equipment and an Active Harmonic Filter; this successfully resolved equipment overheating and drastically dropped transformer temperatures from 105°C down to 59°C. Furthermore, the Reservoir plant continues to pursue sustainability by manufacturing an innovative "Paper Bubble" wrap, an Australian-made, 100% recyclable alternative to single-use plastic bubble wrap. The carbon abatement contract for this project was initiated in May 2016 and successfully completed all its delivery obligations by March 2023. Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) generated from this site's efficiency gains have been utilized by public entities, such as the Treasury Corporation of Victoria, to offset emissions and achieve Climate Active carbon neutrality.