Western Port Works Continuous Paint Line #2 (CPL2) Oven replacement Project

Western Port Works Continuous Paint Line #2 (CPL2) Oven replacement Project is an energy efficiency project located at the BlueScope Steel facility in Hastings, roughly 58km southeast of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. It was registered in November 2021 and operates within an industrial footprint on the shores of Western Port Bay. The broader region is characterised by a mix of significant industrial operations, market gardens, vineyards, and livestock grazing. The area experiences a temperate climate with moderate to high rainfall, and the local soils typically consist of sandy loams transitioning into heavier coastal clays.

This project falls under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Industrial and Commercial Emissions Reduction) Methodology Determination 2021, having transitioned from the 2015 Industrial Electricity and Fuel Efficiency determination in June 2022. This methodology involves reducing emissions from industrial or commercial operations by upgrading, replacing, or modifying existing energy-consuming equipment to improve overall fuel and energy efficiency.

To achieve these reductions, BlueScope Steel Limited replaced the facility's 50-year-old continuous paint line ovens with modern, highly efficient equipment. The Western Port site has an annual steel processing capacity of 1 million tonnes, supplying metal-coated and painted products for domestic and export markets. The oven upgrade led to a 78% reduction in natural gas consumption per tonne of painted product. Remarkably, the project has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 18,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, while also cutting carbon monoxide emissions by 94%, nitrogen oxides by 60%, and sulphur dioxide by 35%. Additionally, the upgrade facilitated the safe removal of 70 tonnes of asbestos-containing refractory material from the old ovens. The Western Port facility is the largest private employer on the Mornington Peninsula and recently became BlueScope's second site to achieve the global ResponsibleSteel sustainability certification.