Clarence Valley Council (CVC) have taken a giant leap toward both substantially lowering greenhouse gas emissions from landfill and at the same time, greatly increasing their future usage of renewable energy after awarding a tender for Landfill Gas Management and Gas to Energy services at the Grafton Regional Landfill facility.

And the huge bonus to the community… Council is set to reap a financial windfall.

In a report to last Thursday’s meeting of CVC, background information and tender details prepared by Senior Waste and Sustainability Officer Richard Roper said Council has been actively managing landfill gas at the Grafton Regional landfill since 2014.

The (current) gas extraction infrastructure and gas flare are owned and funded by Council and operated by a contractor (LGI) on a maintenance contract arrangement.

The gas flaring project was originally registered as an Eligible Offsets Project (EOP) under the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) before being successfully transitioned to the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) in December 2014.

The report said there was a 12 year Australian Carbon Credits Units (ACCU’s) crediting period under the ERF which expires on 13 December 2026.

The report went on to say that whilst Council is expert at receiving and landfilling waste, it is not Council’s core business to manage landfill gas systems (flare and ongoing installation of gas collection pipework) or administer the management and sale of ACCU’s.

There are contractors who specialise in this field and who can maximise gas extraction, hence income for Council. 

The contract incentivises the contractor to maximise gas extraction and is based on a revenue sharing percentage of ACCU’s while gas is being flared, and when electricity generation is viable (when gas volumes are proven) there will be revenue sharing of ACCU’s plus electricity sales.

Tender details were considered at the meeting and as a result the staff recommendation was to accept the tender from LGI Limited for Landfill Gas Management Services at the Grafton Regional Landfill for a term of 12 years with extension option for one (1) x 5-year period and a further extension option for one (1) x 3-year option.

Councillors were told that under the contract arrangement Council will have no capital costs for the management of the landfill gas.

There will be some minor costs associated with the management and administration of the contract.

The contractor will undertake all upgrades to the gas field and flare, maintenance, installation of the gas engine and management of the ACCU’s including mandatory auditing. From the start of the contract, Council will receive a percentage of the revenue received by the contractor from ACCU’s.

Should the gas engine prove to be viable based on gas flows (estimated 2029- 2031), Council will also receive revenue from electricity sales and other revenue streams.

It is anticipated that this income would be approximately $145,000 pa from flaring alone and up to $248,000 pa when electricity is generated.

Councillors were glowing in their praise for the way staff had handled the complex waste management issue over a number of years.

In moving to adopt the staff recommendation, Cr Peter Johnston said the Council’s landfill facility was currently burning off methane gas, which accumulated from organic matter in landfill.

“This methane is 8 times worse than carbon which is what we have after the gas is burnt, but now we will be able to produce electricity,” said Cr Johnston.

“This is a great news story.” (Flaring methane is more environmentally friendly than releasing it into the atmosphere while burning methane gas turns it into carbon and water vapour.)

Cr Cristie Yager, who seconded Cr Johnston agreed, “it was a really exciting thing,” and “will be of benefit for us in the future.”

Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy said as Chairman of the Climate Change Committee in the last term (of Council) the issue had often been raised as to why Council were burning off the methane and not using it.

He said the economic viability had now made that possible and we can now use it for producing electricity.

Councillor Karen Toms reminded the meeting that CVC had first commenced burning off the by-product of landfill breakdown, methane gas, in 2014 and now Council can use it for producing electricity.

“We have been very innovative, and we should all be very proud,” said Cr Toms.

“We are leaders, and the staff need to be congratulated on what they have achieved.”

Tender scope of works

Overall, the intent of the tender process was to engage a professional contractor to maximise the extraction of landfill gas (LFG) at the Grafton landfill and associated commercial opportunities. The scope of the contract includes:

• maintain the existing gas extraction system and progressively expand the gas network through the installation of appropriate gas extraction system infrastructure to extract landfill gas;
• balance and monitor the gas extraction system, gas flare and/or energy generation facility to optimise performance and maintain availability;
• operate and maintain the existing gas flare owned by Council;
• assess the viability (periodically) for a energy generation facility and where demonstrated viability exists, supply, install, operate and maintain the energy generation facility;
• undertake and manage through to completion, the application process to register the existing Eligible Project as an upgrade project under the Clean Energy Regulator’s ACCU Scheme;
• market and sell ACCUs (Carbon Credits), electricity generated and/or other revenue streams derived as a result of the landfill gas management services; and
• reporting to Council, the performance of the gas extraction system and gas flare/energy generation facility to demonstrate best practice;
• monitoring of the system to mitigate landfill gas migration and meet compliance with the EPL. 

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 27 November 2024.