Kilcoy Bioenergy Boiler Project

The Kilcoy Bioenergy Boiler Project is an industrial energy efficiency and fuel switching project located at the Kilcoy Global Foods beef processing facility, approximately 2km east of the township of Kilcoy in Southeast Queensland. Registered in March 2022, the project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Industrial and Commercial Emissions Reduction) Methodology Determination 2021. While the specific project area is an industrial site rather than a broad land tract, the surrounding region is defined by the high-rainfall grazing pastures of the Somerset Region, characterized by fertile alluvial and clay soils that support the local cattle industry.

The primary activity of this project is the replacement of an existing coal-fired boiler with a new, high-efficiency biomass boiler. This falls under the "Industrial and Commercial Emissions Reduction" (ICER) methodology, which credits abatement generated by upgrading equipment or switching to lower-emission fuel sources. By transitioning from coal to renewable biomass, specifically organic materials such as wood by-products and plant waste, the facility aims to eliminate its reliance on coal for steam generation. The methodology requires the proponent to calculate the difference in emissions between the new biomass system and the "baseline" emissions that would have occurred had the facility continued using fossil fuels.

This project is a critical component of Kilcoy Global Foods' broader sustainability strategy, which includes a separate biogas cogeneration project. Together, these initiatives have helped the facility achieve certified Carbon Neutral status under the Climate Active standard, reportedly a first for a large-scale beef processor in Australia. The biomass boiler alone is expected to reduce the facility's carbon footprint by approximately 14,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.