Rivalea Module 3&4 Biogas Project

Rivalea Module 3&4 Biogas Project is an animal effluent management project located just northwest of Corowa in the Riverina region of New South Wales, roughly 50km west of Albury. Registered in November 2017, the project covers an unspecified area size on a large integrated farming site.

Animal effluent management projects typically involve capturing and combusting methane that would otherwise vent into the atmosphere from the anaerobic breakdown of agricultural waste. Standard requirements dictate that the biogas must be processed through a destruction device, such as a flare or an engine, with the exact volume of methane destroyed recorded by calibrated direct measurement systems.

The Corowa area is well known for extensive agricultural land use, including sheep and cattle grazing, broadacre cropping, and large-scale intensive livestock facilities. The region experiences moderate, temperate rainfall, and its soil profiles are generally characterized by agricultural red-brown earths, clay loams, and sandy loams.

This project specifically collects methane generated from piggery manure in covered lagoons, converting it into usable energy to help power the site's operations while mitigating emissions. In December 2020, the facility successfully transitioned from an older 2013 piggery methodology to the updated 2019 Animal Effluent Management method. Rivalea, which was acquired by JBS Australia in a significant $175 million deal, operates one of the most advanced vertically-integrated pork processing sites in the country, and this biogas project plays a crucial role in improving its long-term environmental sustainability.