Grosvenor 2 Coal Mine Waste Gas Power Station Project

The Grosvenor 2 Coal Mine Waste Gas Power Station Project is a fugitive emissions reduction project located approximately 5km north of the coal mining town of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin region of Central Queensland. Registered in August 2016, the project operates within the Grosvenor Mine lease area, a site owned by Anglo American. The surrounding region is characterized by heavy industrial land use, specifically extensive open-cut and underground coal mining operations, interspersed with cattle grazing properties.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Coal Mine Waste Gas) Methodology Determination 2015. This methodology targets methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is naturally released during underground coal extraction. Instead of venting this dangerous gas into the atmosphere, the project captures it and utilizes it as fuel for electricity generation devices. By combusting the methane, the project converts it into carbon dioxide (which has a significantly lower global warming potential) and generates electricity that displaces power otherwise drawn from the grid. The specific activities listed for this project include the installation and operation of displacement and expansion electricity production devices, utilizing the methane harvested from the mine's ventilation and drainage systems.

Environmentally, the Moranbah region is classified as semi-arid to sub-tropical with a distinct summer-dominant rainfall pattern. Average annual rainfall is approximately 600mm, with the majority falling between November and March. The soils in the broader Isaac region are typically dark, cracking clays (vertosols) and texture-contrast soils, often associated with the Brigalow Belt bioregion.

An interesting facet of this project is its operational structure; while the mine is owned by Anglo American, the power station is owned and operated by EDL Projects (Australia) Pty Ltd. Grosvenor 2 is an expansion of the initial Grosvenor 1 facility, adding approximately 15MW of generation capacity to the site. Collectively, these facilities not only reduce safety hazards by removing volatile gas from the underground workings but also generate significant baseload renewable-equivalent energy for the local network. The project method was varied in March 2025 to align with the latest compilation of the methodology.