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, approximately 160km south of Sydney and a few kilometres from the major town of Nowra in New South Wales. It was registered in December 2020 and encompasses the operational footprint of the local waste management facility.

Electricity generation from landfill gas projects involve capturing methane, a potent greenhouse gas generated by decomposing organic waste, and combusting it to generate renewable power or destroying it via flaring. Standard requirements for this methodology dictate that Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) are earned only for the carbon abatement calculated from the volume of methane destroyed above a baseline, which represents the gas that would have been captured or destroyed to meet regulatory requirements or historical practices.

The Nowra region features a temperate, high-rainfall coastal climate. The surrounding Shoalhaven area is characterised by a mix of land uses, including coastal tourism, agriculture such as dairy farming, and native forestry. Soils in the immediate West Nowra area are typically clay-heavy and sedimentary, which frequently retain moisture and are typical of the broader Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions.

This project was initially registered by the Shoalhaven City Council before the proponent was varied to LGI Limited in March 2021. The initiative upgrades an existing landfill gas collection system to capture gas from both legacy and non-legacy waste. By installing high-efficiency, ERF-compliant flares, LGI has more than tripled the site's biogas recovery rates. Furthermore, the project has updated its methodology multiple times to accommodate future electricity generation, with plans to develop a 2MW renewable hybrid power station equipped with battery storage to supply dispatchable power to the local grid.