Wollongong Coal Mine Waste Methane Project (Revoked)

Wollongong Coal Mine Waste Methane Project (Revoked) is an industrial fugitive gas project located in the Illawarra region, situated directly within the major coastal city of Wollongong, approximately 80km south of Sydney in New South Wales. It was registered in October 2015, though its exact project area footprint is undocumented due to the industrial nature of the site.

Coal Mine Waste Gas projects involve mitigating fugitive emissions by capturing and combusting methane from coal mine waste gas that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere. The standard requirements for this methodology involve installing and operating gas destruction equipment, such as flares or electricity generators, which convert the highly potent methane gas into carbon dioxide, thereby significantly reducing the global warming potential of the emissions.

The land use in the Wollongong and broader Illawarra area is heavily characterised by historical and active underground coal mining (such as the nearby Russell Vale and Wongawilli collieries), alongside coastal urban settlements and native forestry within the protected Illawarra Escarpment. The region is classified as a high rainfall coastal zone, often receiving over 1,200mm annually, and the local environmental conditions feature soils that are predominantly sandstone-derived profiles, coastal sandy podsols, and clay loams.

The project's designated activity was to install and operate a new flaring device to safely manage the mine's waste gas. The proponent, Our Energy Group Pty Limited, initially secured a fixed delivery contract (CAC195675) at the November 2016 auction, committing to deliver 744,000 tonnes of carbon abatement to the Commonwealth over a seven-year period. However, this contract eventually lapsed or was terminated in May 2018 with zero abatement delivered. Ultimately, the project was officially revoked in September 2019 under section 30 of the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) Rule.