SECWA has agreed to buy electricity produced from Western Australia's first private power station using landfill gas, Fuel and Energy Minister Geoff Gallop announced today.
"SECWA and Landfill Gas Development Pty Ltd have signed a power purchase agreement - the first under SECWA's co-generation tariff strategy announced last year," Dr Gallop said.
"The company proposes building the power station at the Redhill landfill, near Gidgegannup.
"It will produce about 2,000 kilowatts (kW) of electricity - enough for the average load of 2,000 homes.
"The agreement to purchase power is in line with the Government's commitment to seek alternative electricity generating sources, and is a significant initiative in SECWA's renewable energy program in WA.
"The power station should be operating within a year, and will cost about $1.5 million," he said.
Dr Gallop said the project was the result of about three years effort by Landfill Gas Development, SECWA's Renewable Energy Group and the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, which manages the Redhill landfill.
The agreement comes hard on the heels of the announcement that SECWA would build a $5 million windfarm at Esperance next year.
Last year, SECWA assessed the amount of landfill gas in metropolitan landfills to help it plan for possible future use of LFG to generate electricity.
Landfill Gas Development managing director Kevin Forth said the company had been working for some years on uses for landfill gas.
"It has the rights to gas from three other major landfills - Canning, Melville and Brockway - which also could be tapped for electricity production," Mr Forth said.
"The Redhill site is one of the best managed landfills in the metropolitan area. It is on a clay site which prevents groundwater pollution," he said.
"As the site expands and more gas is produced, expansion of the power station is possible.
"Landfill gas is a mixture, in roughly equal proportions, of methane and carbon dioxide produced by bacteria breaking down organic material in landfills.
"Burning the gas in spark-ignition gas engines at the Redhill power station will reduce the amount of methane, a major greenhouse gas, emitted into the atmosphere.
"Molecule for molecule, methane's impact on the greenhouse warming effect is six times that of carbon dioxide," Mr Forth said.
