Ti Tree Energy Generation Project

Ti Tree Energy Generation Project is a landfill gas electricity generation project located in Willowbank, approximately 15km southwest of Ipswich in Queensland. Registered in July 2015, the project operates over an unspecified area, specifically utilizing a massive 37 million cubic metre void left over from a former open-cut coal mine.

Electricity generation from landfill gas projects involve capturing the methane gas emitted from decomposing organic waste, both legacy and non-legacy, and combusting it in gas engines to generate electricity. Under this methodology determination, proponents are required to strictly measure the volume of methane sent to the combustion engines, ensuring that a potent greenhouse gas is safely destroyed while simultaneously generating dispatchable renewable energy.

The Ipswich and Willowbank region experiences a humid, subtropical climate characterized by moderate to high summer-dominant rainfall. Regional soils are diverse, ranging from texture-contrast Dermosols and Kurosols to Vertosols (cracking clays) common in southern Queensland, although the immediate project site is a highly modified and progressively rehabilitated mine pit. The broader regional land use is a diverse mix of expanding urban residential zones, heavy industrial and waste facilities, historic coal mining, and rural agricultural land.

The Ti Tree Bioenergy Facility acts as a "best practice" bioreactor that accelerates waste stabilization and maximizes biogas generation. Developed as a major waste management advancement by Veolia Environmental Services in conjunction with JJ Richards & Sons, the facility's peak emission reduction capacity is estimated to be equivalent to removing 90,000 cars from the road or planting 1.4 million trees. The project has undergone several administrative changes since its inception, including an early 2013 participant variation involving Stanwell Corporation Ltd and LMS Energy Pty Ltd, and transitioning from revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) methods to the 2021 electricity generation determination. It has been a highly productive project, successfully fulfilling multiple carbon abatement contracts with the Commonwealth, including CAC143500 and CAC102353, the latter of which delivered nearly 400,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).