Pedler Creek Landfill Gas Upgrade Project

Pedler Creek Landfill Gas Upgrade Project is a landfill gas electricity generation project located at Seaford Heights, approximately 30km south of the Adelaide CBD in South Australia. It was registered in February 2017, and while the exact project area size is not publicly disclosed, it operates on a municipal landfill facility. The Seaford Heights area is situated in a peri-urban coastal region known for rapidly expanding residential developments, alongside the nearby McLaren Vale vineyards and legacy livestock grazing. The region experiences a Mediterranean climate characterized by moderate rainfall (averaging around 450mm annually near the coast), and the surrounding catchment features varied soils including brown and black cracking clays, silty loams, and underlying limestone.

The project operates under the Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas methodology. This type of project involves upgrading an existing landfill gas collection system to capture and combust methane generated by decomposing organic matter, from both legacy and non-legacy waste. By diverting this potent greenhouse gas to a combustion device such as a generator, the project prevents methane from entering the atmosphere and produces renewable electricity. To earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), standard requirements dictate that the project must continuously measure the volume of methane sent to the combustion system and calculate the baseline emissions that would have occurred without the upgrade.

An interesting fact about this site is that it hosts an embedded 3.09 MW power station utilizing a spark ignition reciprocating engine, effectively feeding the captured gas into the South Australian energy grid. The project's operating methodology was officially varied in February 2022, transitioning from the 2015 Landfill Gas determination to the updated 2021 framework. Additionally, in July 2020, the project's proponent, LMS Energy Pty Ltd, was issued a notice by the Clean Energy Regulator requiring the relinquishment of 78,685 Kyoto ACCUs due to a self-identified adjustment in their crediting calculations.