'Pavilion Farms Anakie Anaerobic Digestion Project

Pavilion Farms Anakie Anaerobic Digestion Project is an animal effluent management project located at Anakie, approximately 30km northwest of Geelong in Victoria. It was registered in October 2022. The exact project area is not specified, but the facility is being constructed on land adjacent to Pavilion Farms' existing large-scale broiler chicken growing operations.

Animal effluent management projects under this methodology involve collecting and treating animal waste to avoid methane emissions that would normally be released into the atmosphere. In this case, the project collects chicken litter (poultry manure) and other organic material, processing it through large, enclosed anaerobic digester tanks. The resulting methane gas is captured and combusted to generate renewable electricity for the farm and the grid, while the remaining digestate is converted into high-nutrient organic fertiliser.

The Anakie area is part of the Corangamite catchment region, which is heavily utilised for agricultural operations such as mixed farming, livestock grazing, and cropping. The region generally experiences a temperate climate with moderate to reliable winter rainfall, and the soils often consist of basalt and clay loams typical of the Victorian volcanic plains.

An interesting note is that Pavilion Farms is one of the largest broiler chicken producers in Australia, growing approximately 15 million birds annually. The project is registered under the proponent EnergyLink Services Pty Ltd, which manages the carbon crediting process for the Pavilion Biogas facility. This anaerobic digestion project represents a significant move towards circular agriculture, turning 29,700 tonnes of annual waste into 21,000MWh of renewable electricity and over 6,000 tonnes of organic fertiliser while heavily reducing greenhouse gas emissions.