GreenPower not just that load of rubbish

Goulburn Post
Monday 31/3/2008 Page: 3

HOUSEHOLD garbage from Sydney's householders is producing enough electricity to power 20,000 homes every year. And it is all being generated at Veolia Environmental Services' Woodlawn bioreactor at Tarago. State Minister for Energy Ian Macdonald said EnergyAustralia was buying the electricity produced from the methane gas now being captured from the bioreactor located deep inside the former Woodlawn mine.

The bioreactor came on line late in February and currently has 1MW of generation capacity which will progressively increase to an expected 25MW at its peak. "One of the main advantages of the bioreactor compared with normal landfills is that it maximises gas production and captures the gas produced when waste breaks down," Mr Macdonald said. "Landfill gases contain methane, which is 21 times more potent in its greenhouse warming potential than carbon dioxide.

"The Woodlawn bioreactor captures the harmful greenhouse gases produced and uses it to generate electricity for homes and businesses. "Once fully operational, the plant will prevent the equivalent of 675,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. "That's the same as taking more than 195,000 cars off the road every 12 months" The results of an independent study of the Woodlawn Bioreactor last year revealed that better than 92 per cent of all methane produced from the waste in that area was being harvested (for further use).

"Household waste from Sydney is transported by rail to Tarago where it is then trucked into the site," Mr Macdonald said. "Once the waste breaks down, the landfill gas is captured by three horizontal gas blankets, 17 gas wells and other collection infrastructure including a 70-metre wide sump, treatment pond and storage tanks. "The captured landfill gas is fed into the onsite generation which converts the gas into electricity for customers to buy." By entering into this agreement, EnergyAustralia is earning Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and green power rights by supporting this renewable energy generator.

A second generator was expected to come on stream about August and the balance to be commissioned over approximately six monthly intervals during the next 10 years. Veolia Environmental Services has also received approval for the construction of a wind farm on the site, which once operational, will produce enough electricity to power more than 17,000 homes, and save 120,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. Combining the bioreactor and wind farm, the site will generate sufficient green electricity to supply over 37,000 households with power.

Asked when the wind farm would operational, Veolia's national communications manager Renee Fry said while no turbines had as yet been installed, a wind monitoring device was on the site. "In relation to timing for construction, we cannot commit to an exact date, but we would estimate the wind farm will be operational within the next two years," she said. Since it was a project independent of the bioreaetor electricity generation, a customer for the wind farm energy was yet to be announced.