Pavilion Farms Anakie Anaerobic Digestion Project

Pavilion Farms Anakie Anaerobic Digestion Project is an animal effluent management project located at Anakie, approximately 34km north-west of Geelong in Victoria. It was registered in October 2022. The exact project area is unpublished, but it is situated on Pavilion Farms' own land adjacent to their primary chicken broiler operations.

Animal effluent management projects involve treating animal waste by capturing the biogas it generates and combusting the methane component. Standard requirements for this methodology dictate that the methane must be diverted to an emissions destruction treatment facility, such as a flare, boiler, or internal combustion engine, where it is permanently destroyed to prevent its release into the atmosphere.

The Anakie region is situated on Victoria's Western Plains and is characterised by broadacre cropping, sheep and cattle grazing, vineyards, and intensive agriculture. The environment experiences a moderate climate with an average annual rainfall of around 550mm to 640mm. Regional soils are largely volcanic in origin, predominantly featuring shallow black self-mulching clays, alkaline texture contrast soils, and undulating basalt plains surrounding volcanic granite outcrops.

This project was established to support Pavilion Farms' transition toward 100% sustainable "circular farming". As one of Australia's largest broiler operations, growing around 15 million birds annually, the farms produce approximately 25,000 tonnes of chicken litter each year. The new anaerobic digestion facility will process this litter alongside other organic agricultural and food wastes that would otherwise go to landfill. In addition to destroying harmful methane, the process captures the gas to generate approximately 21,000 MWh of renewable electricity per annum and produces over 6,000 tonnes of pathogen-free, nutrient-rich organic fertiliser.