Turning Landfill Gas Into Electricity

In 2008, a new energy project was officially launched and now greenhouse gas from Wellington’s Southern Landfill is being used to generate electricity.

The 1 MW generator plant generates around 8 GWh of electricity per year – enough to power 1000 households – for the next 20 years. The generator is driven by a large internal combustion engine designed specifically to run on gas produced in the landfill. 

The generation plant is located right next to the new and expanded Recycling Centre at Wellington’s Southern Landfill. The plant is highly efficient and has capacity to maximise the electricity produced from the available landfill gas. Depending on future waste volumes received and the content of the waste there may be sufficient gas to enable the installation of additional generation units in years to come.

Designing a viable, long-term solution to the problem of managing greenhouse gas produced at the landfill involved the generation expertise of Nova Energy’s Electricity group, teamed up with the expert gas knowledge of our Natural Gas group.