'West Belconnen Landfill Gas Upgrade Project

West Belconnen Landfill Gas Upgrade Project is a landfill gas capture and combustion project located at the closed West Belconnen Resource Management Centre, approximately 15 kilometres northwest of the Canberra city centre in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The project was registered in June 2020. While the specific project area size is not defined in the public registry, it occupies the footprint of the former suburban landfill. The surrounding region of West Belconnen is transitioning from its historical agricultural and grazing land use into the major residential and sustainable urban development known as Ginninderry.

Landfill gas projects operate by installing or upgrading gas collection systems to capture methane produced by decomposing organic waste. Under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015, projects earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by combusting this captured methane, which is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, either by converting it into electricity or flaring it. A standard requirement for these projects is that the gas captured must exceed an established regulatory baseline to ensure the emissions reduction is additional.

The local environment is characteristic of the ACT's temperate climate, which experiences moderate rainfall of approximately 600-650mm annually. Natural soils in the area generally consist of shallow, rocky loams and clay duplex soils, though the specific project site is heavily modified as a remediated landfill.

For this specific project, the proponent, LGI Limited, upgraded an existing landfill gas collection system to capture and combust gas from both legacy and non-legacy waste. Because the gas volumes at the closed West Belconnen site are not sufficient to be commercially viable for power generation, LGI installed a specialised enclosed flare to safely destroy the gas onsite. This upgrade is part of a broader 15-year partnership with the ACT Government to reduce emissions across the territory's waste management facilities. Over time, the broader West Belconnen landfill site is being rehabilitated into a 108-hectare community recreation and conservation hub as part of the Ginninderry development.