'Rivalea Module 3&4 Biogas Project

Rivalea Module 3&4 Biogas Project is an Animal effluent management project located near Corowa, approximately 55km west of Albury in the Riverina region of New South Wales. It was registered in November 2017 and operates on an unspecified area size within a large-scale commercial pork production facility.

Animal effluent management projects involve treating agricultural waste by capturing and destroying greenhouse gas emissions. Standard requirements for this methodology dictate that methane generated from decomposing animal manure must be collected in covered anaerobic lagoons and safely combusted, converting it to less potent carbon dioxide and preventing it from entering the atmosphere.

The Corowa area is a major agricultural hub well known for intensive livestock farming, including pigs, sheep, and cattle, as well as extensive grain and pulse cropping. The region experiences a moderate climate with an average annual rainfall of approximately 541mm. Soils in the area are typically classified as red dermosols and typic haplusterts, characterized by thick, loamy surface horizons and high clay content in the subsoil.

The project proponent, JBS Pork Australia Pty Ltd, acquired the massive Rivalea operation in 2022. The biogas project captures methane in enormous covered effluent ponds, which hold 75 megalitres, equivalent in size to 75 Olympic swimming pools, and runs the captured gas through blowers to onsite biogas generators. This bioenergy system generates enough renewable electricity to supply up to 85% of the Corowa site's peak farming and processing power requirements. Additionally, the leftover nutrient-rich digestate wastewater is recycled to irrigate local feed crops, eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers. In December 2020, this facility updated its crediting framework, transitioning from the 2013 piggery methane destruction method to the current 2019 Animal Effluent Management methodology.