Landfill gas to renewable energy
In progress: Eastern Creek renewable energy facility supplying electricity to the grid while reducing greenhouse emissions.
The systems at the Eastern Creek Renewable Energy Facility are a leading example of our innovative approaches to supplying electricity to the grid, while reducing greenhouse emissions from landfill gas.
The Eastern Creek Renewable Energy Facility annual production outputs currently include:
- 50,000 MWh of renewable electricity exported to the power grid – enough to power about 6,000 homes
- 279,000 tonnes of direct greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide equivalent) abated – this equals taking about 112,000 cars off the road
- 110,000 litres of water saved.
Background
Our Waste Assets Management Corporation operates and manages 9 closed landfill sites across NSW, including its Eastern Creek site in the Blacktown City Council area. The landfill site received about 7 million tonnes of waste material over a 10-year period before closing in 2017.
We manage the landfill gas generated from the buried and decomposing waste. Our aim is to lessen the effects that the greenhouse gas emissions have on the environment. We do this by implementing:
- leachate extraction systems (for removing contaminated liquids)
- gas wells
- piping
- air pumps
- gas capture and recovery infrastructure such as gas flares and engines used in electricity generation.
This venture allows the Waste Assets Management Corporation to offset significant carbon dioxide emissions each year, helping us work towards the NSW Government’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Environmental impact
Maximising capture from the existing landfill biogas resource is critical in reducing greenhouse emissions.
The gas and energy systems at the landfill prevented about 279,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere in 2021 to 2022. The project has been issued with over 1.4 million carbon credits and collected and combusted about 620 million cubic meters of landfill biogas.
Landfill gas wells
More than 160 gas wells and pipework has been installed at Eastern Creek since 2008 to collect and transfer the landfill gas to the power station. This is equal to more than 5 km of pipework buried within the landfill.
Stakeholders
Our stakeholders include:
- the NSW Environment Protection Authority
- other waste management service providers (Veolia, GRL)
- local community.
The joint venture to operate and manage landfill gas collection and processing has allowed the Waste Assets Management Corporation to meet and exceed its regulatory and environmental commitments. This is beneficial for the local community and stakeholders as it reduces odours from the site.
Next steps
The Waste Assets Management Corporation will continue to operate the Eastern Creek Renewable Energy Facility for the next 15 to 20 years.