What a gas: Brissie firm LGI lights up Sydney with renewable energ
Brisbane-based renewable energy firm LGI is literally cooking with gas at Australia’s largest landfill site, helping power the equivalent of at least 7000 homes each year.
Brisbane-based renewable energy firm LGI is literally cooking with gas at Australia’s largest landfill site with a new flare, 60 gas wells and biogas extraction infrastructure being installed at the Eastern Creek Landfill in Western Sydney to help power the equivalent of at least 7000 homes each year as well as local industry.
The upgrades are part of an $18.5m deal sealed earlier this year between LGI and BINGO Industries, which will see biogas extracted from the landfill and converted into renewable electricity via a four-megawatt renewable power station.
Potential for future expansion of the project is already under consideration including installing battery energy storage systems and further increases in generation capacity.
The electricity generated will supply power to BINGO Industries behind the meter at their Eastern Creek Recycling Ecology Park as well as via the grid to BINGO sites in New South Wales, with surplus green electricity fed into the National Electricity Market, powering the equivalent of at least 7000 homes each year.
LGI chief executive Jarryd Doran says recent upgrades to the site allow LGI to capture more gas and increase the system’s resilience.
In addition to powering the renewable electricity facility, capturing and using the biogas also helps mitigate unfriendly odours.
To date, 45,000 cubic metres of earth has been moved on the site allowing for civil works for the power station to commence, maintaining the target commissioning by mid-2025.
Doran tells your diarist that the multimillion-dollar upgrades will benefit both the environment and local community around the Eastern Creek site and the broader Blacktown region. “To date, 17 new gas wells have been drilled, with 60 to be completed by the end of January,” Doran says. He adds partnerships with multiple NSW councils had allowed LGI to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1.13 million tonnes, which is the equivalent of planting 18.8 million seedlings for the next decade.
In Queensland, LGI operates biogas extraction facilities at Bunya, Dakabin and Caboolture Waste Management Facilities in Moreton Bay. Eight of the company’s landfill sites around the country have produced more than 540,000MWh, which is more than enough electricity to power 93,000 homes for a year.” Investors clearly like what LGI is doing with the share prices soaring almost 50 per cent to $2.97 so far this year.
Nailing it
Local construction giant McNab has shown you can make lemonade out of lemons even amid tough times in the building business.
The Toowoomba-based company has picked up a major gong for its landmark luxury development White Main Beach on the Gold Coast that began construction during the dark days of Covid-19.
The project, both developed and built by McNab, was awarded best residential high rise at the Master Builders 2024 Queensland Awards at The Star Brisbane last week. Marketed in late 2020, the project, designed by architects WMK, quickly became a hit with Main Beach locals due to its 325sqm home-sized apartments and architectural design.
McNab founder and executive chairman Michael McNab expressed his pride in the team’s dedication to delivering the project, especially given the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Construction of White Main Beach was not without its challenges, commencing in March 2021 during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic,” McNab says. “The limited availability of labour and materials was then intensified by an unprecedented surge in demand across the construction industry.”
Originally published as What a gas: Brissie firm LGI lights up Sydney with renewable energ
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