Australian businesses will soon be able to offset their energy use with renewable gas certificates as part of GreenPower’s Renewable Gas Certification Pilot which kicked off last month.
In a game-changing development for thousands of commercial and industrial gas users, who rely on gas for their operations, the certification pilot opens the door to a new way of reducing emissions, without the need to change systems, appliances or processes.
The pilot represents a substantial building block in the development of a viable Australian renewable gas industry, helping to encourage greater investment in biomethane and green hydrogen projects. Under the pilot scheme GreenPower will ensure that each certificate represents accredited renewable gas that displaces natural gas in the Australian energy system. This will directly support renewable gas projects and allows customers to match their natural gas use with low-emission renewable gas.
The scheme is an exciting step forward and could act as a precursor to the Federal Government Guarantee of Origin Scheme expanding to include renewable gases like biomethane made from organic waste and green hydrogen made using renewable electricity.
Renewable gas projects and production sites around the country can apply to be certified under the new scheme, and Jemena is aiming for its Malabar Biomethane demonstration project facility to be one of the first major renewable gas facilities registered under the GreenPower certification scheme.
Jemena’s Malabar Biomethane facility, in Sydney’s South-East, is the first of its kind injecting biomethane into the company’s NSW gas network. The groundbreaking Malabar project is turning waste into energy, a working example of the circular economy that is also providing a sustainable substitute for natural gas.
In its trial phase, the project is set to produce approximately 95 terajoules (TJs) of biomethane gas annually – equivalent to powering around 6300 homes. Over four years, production could scale-up to 200TJs of biomethane, catering for the average annual gas usage of about 13,300 homes.
