In September, Darwin City Council commissioned Northern Territory’s first methane gas power plant at the Shoal Bay Waste Disposal Deposit site. The Darwin Renewable Energy Facility will produce enough energy to power approximately 1,000 homes and save more than 46,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. This is equivalent to removing 9,000 cars from the road each year or using 101,500 less barrels of oil.
Council built and is operating the facility in cooperation with Landfill Management Services, an Australian owned and operated company recognised as leaders in the landfill gas and renewable energy industry.
Darwin Lord Mayor, Peter Adamson, said everyone is a winner because of this project. “We are harvesting methane, which is more damaging to greenhouse warming than carbon dioxide,” he said. “We are reducing the leaching of toxic materials into the ground, reducing odours for nearby residents and generating energy back to the community. The power produced is purchased by the Power and Water Corporation and then fed directly into the Darwin power grid.” Each year more than 96,000 tonnes of waste is deposited in the Shoal Bay site, more than a tonne for every resident.
The rubbish is now placed into waste cells to decompose and liquefy. From the waste cells, 93 wells have been constructed to collect the built up methane gas by vacuum suction and deliver it via 2.5 kilometres of pipeline to the power station.
Construction of stage one, a landfill gas collection and flare module, began in August 2004. The project measured the volume and quality of greenhouse gases able to be converted to green power. During the first nine months of operation, more than two million cubic metres of landfill gas were collected.
Greenhouse emissions from the landfill were cut by 97 per cent and this meant that building a one kilowatt power station was viable. With this success, Stage two, the construction of the actual power station was recently completed five months ahead of schedule. Unlike the old days, this generator is only slightly bigger than a shipping container, is fully automated and remote controlled.
For further information contact Angelica Hest, Environmental Manager, on (08) 8930 0530.
