Woodlawn Energy Generation Project

Woodlawn Energy Generation Project is a landfill gas electricity generation project located at the Woodlawn Eco-Precinct in Tarago, approximately 39km south of Goulburn and 69km northeast of Canberra in New South Wales. It was registered in July 2015 and operates over an unspecified area, focusing on the footprint of the Woodlawn Bioreactor. The broader Tarago and Southern Tablelands region is largely known for sheep and cattle grazing and forestry, though the project itself sits on a dedicated waste management and renewable energy site.

Landfill gas electricity generation projects involve capturing methane-rich biogas emitted by decomposing organic matter within a landfill. Under the methodology's standard requirements, the system must continuously operate a collection network to capture gas from both legacy and non-legacy putrescible waste, and then combust it in generators. This prevents a highly potent greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere and converts it into renewable electricity for the grid.

The environment of the Southern Tablelands experiences a temperate, sub-humid climate with a moderate rainfall classification, averaging around 700mm to 800mm annually. Soils in the Tarago area are generally texture-contrast soils like Chromosols and Sodosols, often characterized by yellow podzolics with loamy topsoils and clay subsoils.

This project was set up on a repurposed open-cut copper, lead, and zinc mine that ceased operations in 1998, turning a former environmental liability into an integrated eco-precinct. In an impressive circular economy initiative, Veolia utilises the excess heat from the landfill gas generators to run a commercially viable Barramundi aquaculture farm on-site. Over its lifetime, the project has transitioned through multiple methodology variations (from 2012 to 2015, and finally the 2021 standards) and successfully completed a long-term carbon abatement contract (CAC102472) in August 2022. Recently, on 22 June 2026, the primary proponent's title was officially updated from Veolia Environmental Services (Australia) Pty Ltd to VELMS Joint Venture Pty Ltd.