Grosvenor 2 Coal Mine Waste Gas Power Station Project

Grosvenor 2 Coal Mine Waste Gas Power Station Project is an industrial fugitives (coal mine waste gas) project located approximately 5km northwest of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin of Central Queensland [1]. Registered in August 2016, the project operates within the Grosvenor metallurgical coal mine footprint [1, 2]. The broader Moranbah region is heavily defined by large-scale open-cut and underground coal mining operations, interspersed with broadacre cattle grazing on the remaining pastoral land.

Coal mine waste gas projects operating under this methodology involve capturing methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas safely extracted via mine ventilation and coal seam drainage, and combusting it to generate electricity [1, 3]. EDL Projects (Australia) Pty Ltd installs and operates displacement and expansion electricity production devices (Jenbacher generator sets) at the site [1, 2]. By capturing the waste gas, the project prevents raw methane from venting directly into the atmosphere, converting it to electricity that is fed into the local mine network and the national grid, thereby displacing more carbon-intensive grid power [2].

The environment in this part of Central Queensland is characterised by a semi-arid to subtropical climate, experiencing distinct wet and dry seasons with variable, summer-dominant rainfall. The local geology and soils are typical of the Bowen Basin, predominantly consisting of deep vertosols (cracking clay soils) and duplex soils.

Interestingly, the Grosvenor 2 power station is an expansion of the initial Grosvenor 1 facility, developed through a gas supply partnership between EDL and Anglo American [2]. The underlying Grosvenor mine has faced significant operational challenges recently, including a major underground methane fire in June 2024 that resulted in the mine being completely sealed and operations halted well into 2025 and 2026 [4]. Furthermore, in a major policy shift, the Australian Government allowed the overarching Coal Mine Waste Gas methodology to expire on 31 March 2025 and confirmed it would not be remade, marking a major transition for future abatement activities in the sector [3]. The project recorded a variation of its project method just days before this expiration on 28 March 2025.