Solar farm joins biogas plant at covered landfill facility in South Australia

A covered waste facility in South Australia’s southern region has added a 600kW solar farm to the site’s existing biogas power station, boosting the facility’s annual energy output and effectively making it “emissions neutral.”

The Southern Region Waste Resource Authority solar farm was launched last week in a joint effort of the Cities of Marion, Onkaparinga and Holdfast Bay, and built by local outfit LMS Energy.

The 1780 PV panels at the capped landfill at Seaford Heights join the site’s existing 300MW biogas facility that converts methane gas into energy, providing power to roughly 3,000 households. This biogas plant started operation in December 2019 and is owned and operated by LMS Energy.

The power generated from the landfill site is fed into the SA Power Networks’ grid and, with the added solar, will supply enough green electricity to power around 4,400 South Australian households, the councils said.

According to local news site Onkaparinga Now, the two systems represent a combined investment by LMS Energy of more than $12 million.

“This is an important step in transforming the site into a resource recovery and sustainability centre that will benefit the community for generations,” said SRWRA CEO Chris Adams in a statement last week.

City of Onkaparinga Mayor, Erin Thompson, added that the new hub would deliver significant benefits to the local environment and economy.

“This innovative project demonstrates how the three councils are responding to the impacts of climate change, reducing emissions and building community resilience.

“I’m excited to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and—through the under-construction SRWRA material recovery facility alongside the landfill site—also reduce our reliance on recycling companies,” Thomson said.

“Building an eco-friendly power station on landfill makes good use of wasteland,” added City of Marion Mayor Kris Hanna.

“We are reducing pollution and indirectly getting a return for ratepayers at the same time. This project is an important collaboration with neighbouring Councils,” Mayor Hanna said.

“We are building a new national standard of excellence in green energy and we will continue to look at innovative ways to reduced emissions and build a circular economy,” said City of Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson.

“It is exciting to see the culmination of our combined environmental vision that will have both financial and environmental returns for our community,” she said.