Environmentally friendly initiatives and practices – particularly greenhouse gas reduction and green energy generation – are high on the agenda for Darwin City Council.
In developing Darwin City Council’s Environmental Management Plan, the community identified air quality as a priority. In response, Council joined the Cities for Climate Protection Program, with an emission reduction target of 25 per cent by 2010.
Significant steps toward this goal have been realised through the construction in 2005 of the Territory’s first landfill gas fed power station, the Shoal Bay Renewable Energy Facility. The facility – built and operated by Landfill Management Services in partnership with Council – converts landfill gases to energy, which is fed back into the power grid.
In its first year of operation, the plant has reduced Darwin’s greenhouse emissions by 46,400 tonnes. This is equivalent to removing 9,000 cars from the road or using 101,500 fewer barrels of oil.
This major reduction is achieved by putting to work the more than 100,000 tonnes of waste (representing around a tonne for every resident) that is collected in Darwin each year.
Instead of simply languishing – and creating greenhouse gas emissions – this waste is placed into fully lined waste cells fitted with gas extraction systems that collect landfill gases produced by the decomposing waste.
Ninety-three wells have been constructed to collect, by vacuum suction, all landfill gases, which are then delivered via 2.5 km of pipeline to the Renewable Energy Facility, where it is converted into green power.
As well as generating energy, the harvesting of landfill gases such as methane, which is a more damaging greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, also reduces landfill fire risks and reduces odours for nearby residents. Today the facility is operating very successfully. There are no direct emissions of greenhouse gas from the landfill.
In November last year, Darwin City Council was proud to receive the National Local Government Award for Greenhouse Action for its work in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through the power station.
Another initiative under consideration by Council is Australia’s first green waste mineral oil plant. Council is in negotiations with Melbourne based Renewable Oil Corporation to construct a
$70 million green waste renewable energy project at Shoal Bay. The Shoal Bay plant will showcase world leading bio fuel technology and will be the first application of the method in Australia.
The plant will use Canadian developed pyrolysis technology to convert Darwin’s green waste and wood into bio oil fuel that can be used to generate electricity.
The plant will produce sufficient fuel to replace 15 million litres of diesel each year and will not produce any damaging carbon dioxide gases.
It is also a cheaper method of fuel generation than bio diesel and is easily transported to wherever it is needed.
Darwin is seen as an ideal site for the plant given the strong environmental policies already in place and its high green waste production – the highest per capita of Australian cities.
If negotiations are successful, construction of the Shoal Bay plant is expected to commence this year with a target of having the plant fully operational by the end of 2008.
