How Toowoomba is going green, plans to rely on less fossil fuels

Ruby Cook and Allysia Krause are playing their part to reduce their carbon footprint by planting trees. But bigger developments are afoot.

Newtown State School’s Ruby Cook and Allysia Krause are playing their part to reduce their carbon footprint, planting trees with their school’s local environmental group.

And it’s not the only regional initiative aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to lessen the impacts of man-made climate change.

The Toowoomba Regional Council is currently exploring a number of renewable energy projects, harnessing hydro-electric power and methane gas to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

The council’s long-awaited plan to create a biogas power plant took an important step, after the successful tenderer for the project LGI Limited lodged plans last month.

The facility would capture gas trapped inside the local landfill and convert it into energy, which would power the nearby Wetalla sewage treatment plant.

Best friends and Newtown State School year 6 students Ruby Cook and Allysia Krause love to plant together as members of the school's environmental group. Picture: Nev Madsen.

The council has also given the green light for BE Power to move to the next stage of a new pumped hydro energy storage facility at Lake Cressbrook.

Mayor Paul Antonio likened the project to a giant battery, storing energy for use at peak times.

“Pumped hydro could deliver important benefits to our region through the enabling of other renewable energy solutions and will play an important role in supporting opportunities for the community to transition towards renewable energy,” he said.

“If the project proceeds to delivery, Council will provide access to land and water assets and BE Power will develop the project, including providing necessary infrastructure.”

Local green initiatives are not just confined to the council, with four private projects either slated to start or already begun west of Toowoomba.

At Wagner Corp’s Wellcamp Business Park, companies Pyrocal, Envorinex and Green Distillation Technologies are developing three innovative plants.

Pyrocal has established a research and development facility at Wellcamp for its continuous carbonisation technology, which transforms waste streams into biochar and thermal energy.

This would create carbon trading opportunities and diverts waste from landfill.

Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio.

Just next door, Envorinex has started construction on a $3.3m plastics recycling plant that could process 8000 tonnes of material every year.

GDT has been approved for a remarkable $12m tyre recycling facility at the business park, which would be able to turn more than 650,000 tyres back into oil, carbon and steel.

Toowoomba company FKG Group also has plans to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, developing a 150-megawatt gas-solar power plant in the Charlton-Wellcamp area.

While the project is several years away, once built would supply energy to its AATLIS industrial precinct.

For more on this series go to: www.missionzero2050.com.au

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Originally published as How Toowoomba is going green, plans to rely on less fossil fuels