Borg Panels Energy and Greenhouse Reduction Project (Revoked)

Borg Panels Energy and Greenhouse Reduction Project (Revoked) is an Industrial Electricity and Fuel Efficiency project located across two primary operational sites: Somersby on the NSW Central Coast (approximately 10km northwest of Gosford) and Oberon in the Central Tablelands (approximately 45km southeast of Bathurst). It was registered in October 2015 and operates within an undefined industrial project area footprint, as is typical for facility-based efficiency upgrades.

Industrial Electricity and Fuel Efficiency projects involve reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by upgrading, replacing, or modifying existing energy-consuming equipment, or by changing the mix of energy sources used. Standard requirements for this methodology include the continuous measurement and verification of energy savings against a historical emissions baseline to generate tradeable carbon or energy savings certificates.

The two project regions have distinct environments and land uses. The Central Coast area around Somersby experiences very high rainfall, averaging over 1,300mm annually. Soils in this coastal region largely consist of Dermosols and alluvial clays. The surrounding land use is a mix of urban development, intensive horticulture, and heavy manufacturing. Conversely, Oberon is situated at a high elevation with fertile tertiary basalt and red earth soils. It has a high rainfall climate for the inland tablelands, averaging 700mm to 900mm annually. The regional land use in Oberon is heavily dominated by commercial plantation forestry (pine), which directly supplies raw materials to local timber and panel manufacturing industries, alongside sheep grazing, cattle farming, and canola cropping.

This project was set up to improve energy efficiency at Borg Panels' manufacturing facilities. Specific project activities included installing variable speed drives on major dryer fans, implementing advanced control systems, capturing and re-using waste heat, and improving process heat systems. An interesting fact about the proponent's operations is that Borg operates a massive 50 MWth biomass heat plant in Oberon, which is fuelled by wood dust and waste from the production process, creating a circular resource loop that significantly offsets fossil fuel reliance. They also utilise vast rooftop solar arrays at these sites, with the Oberon facility hosting over 27,000 solar panels. The carbon project itself was ultimately revoked under section 30 of the CFI Rule on April 24, 2019.