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 manufacturing sites: Somersby (approximately 10km northwest of Gosford on the NSW Central Coast) and Oberon (approximately 45km southeast of Bathurst in the NSW Central Tablelands). Registered in October 2015, the project covers an unknown combined area across both industrial sites.

Industrial Electricity and Fuel Efficiency projects involve reducing greenhouse gas emissions by upgrading, replacing, modifying, or augmenting existing energy-consuming equipment. Standard requirements dictate that projects must demonstrate genuine energy savings by changing the energy sources or the mix of energy sources utilized, requiring accurate metering to compare baseline energy usage against the new upgraded consumption.

The Somersby site is situated in a semi-rural and industrial region that experiences high coastal rainfall and typically features sandy loam and clay soils. The Oberon area is characterized by high rainfall and cool, temperate climates (often experiencing winter snow) with fertile basalt and clay loam soils. The region around Oberon is heavily utilized for commercial forestry (specifically pine plantations), which directly supplies the timber needed for Borg Panels' medium density fibreboard (MDF) and particle board manufacturing operations. Sheep and cattle grazing are also common land uses in the surrounding Central Tablelands.

Project activities at the Borg Panels facilities focused on implementing advanced control systems and processes, process heat improvements, variable speed drives, and waste heat capture and re-use. Interestingly, this carbon project was voluntarily revoked on 24 April 2019 under section 30 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule, meaning the project proponent (Borg Panels Pty Limited) formally requested the Clean Energy Regulator to cancel the project's declaration.