Continuous Drying Kiln Upgrade - Dardanup Mill

Continuous Drying Kiln Upgrade - Dardanup Mill is an Industrial Electricity and Fuel Efficiency project located at Dardanup, approximately 15km southeast of the major regional city of Bunbury in Western Australia. It was registered in January 2018. Because this is a facility-level energy efficiency project situated entirely within an industrial sawmill, it does not encompass a large geographic land area.

The methodology utilized for this project is the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Industrial Electricity and Fuel Efficiency) Methodology Determination 2015. This methodology type involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions by modifying, removing, or replacing existing energy-consuming equipment. For this specific project, the activities focus on optimizing process heat by upgrading a continuous drying kiln to improve fuel and energy efficiency.

The surrounding Dardanup region on the Swan Coastal Plain is characterized by a mix of forestry, low-intensity general farming, and rural residential land uses. The local environment typically experiences moderate to high rainfall characteristic of a Mediterranean climate, and the area's soil profile generally consists of loams and clays on the flats, occasionally interspersed with raised sandy dunes.

The project proponent, Wespine Industries Pty Ltd, is a major local softwood sawmill operator that processes locally grown plantation pine into structural timber, packaging materials, and garden products. An interesting fact about Wespine's operations is their commitment to a "zero waste approach," ensuring no part of the log goes to waste, even the sawdust generated during milling is transported to a nearby particleboard facility. The carbon project itself was contracted in April 2020 under an Optional Delivery contract (CAC456592) for 86,100 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), a commitment which was completed in March 2026.