ERF landfill gas determination – proposed changes

A number of organisations operating in the landfill gas sector that have been earning revenue by generating electricity from landfill gas have won a significant concession from the Federal Government.

The Federal Government has released a proposal that will allow gas collection projects that earn carbon credits by generating electricity to continue earning the credits after the seven year standard crediting life.

This action will preserve the rights of these organisations to credits by allowing landfill gas generation projects to switch and become flaring only projects, whereby methane is captured and combusted without generating electricity.

Under these proposed changes to the ERF Landfill Gas Determination:

  • carbon credits can then be claimed as a restarting flaring project for five years.
  • organisations can only switch the status of a landfill from generation to restarting flaring project for a period of five years.
  • the switch can only be made if the continued generation of electricity will be uneconomic once credits from gas capture and generation are no longer available.
  • organisations must also confirm that flaring is only economically viable if the project is approved to earn carbon credits through the flaring and that there is no regulatory requirement to burn the methane from the site.

These new amendments are out for public comment until November.

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