Shoalhaven LFG Upgrade Project

Shoalhaven LFG Upgrade Project is a landfill gas capture and electricity generation project located at the West Nowra Recycling and Waste Depot, situated just west of the major regional centre of Nowra on the South Coast of New South Wales. Registered in December 2020, the project footprint is confined to the operational area of the waste management facility. The broader Shoalhaven region's land use is predominantly characterised by coastal tourism, forestry operations, dairy farming, and beef cattle grazing. The area experiences a temperate coastal climate with high average annual rainfall, and the local soils are generally podzolic, featuring sandy loams with clay subsoils.

This project operates under the Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas methodology. Projects of this type involve upgrading and operating existing landfill gas collection systems to more effectively capture methane-rich biogas emitted by decomposing legacy and non-legacy organic waste. The standard requirement is that the captured gas must be destroyed by combustion, typically by flaring or by powering a generator to produce renewable electricity, thereby preventing this potent greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere and generating carbon abatement beyond business-as-usual levels.

Initially registered by the Shoalhaven City Council, the project proponent was varied to LGI Limited in March 2021. Through this partnership, LGI Limited has reportedly more than doubled the historical biogas capture rates at the site. The project has since transitioned from a 2015 flaring methodology to the 2021 methodology for electricity generation, paving the way for a dispatchable renewable power station and advanced battery storage system. According to LGI Limited, this expanded capture capability has successfully reduced the council's emissions by over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.