April 12, 2018
An abattoir in rural NSW has teamed up with a Queensland energy provider to turn its waste into energy, thanks to funding from the Federal Government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
ARENA last year provided $2.1 million in funding to ReNu Energy to design, construct, own and operate a biogas facility at Southern Meats’ abattoir at Goulburn.
The abattoir processes sheep and lambs, using around 20,000 KWh of electricity every day.
The $5.75 million project consisted of an anaerobic digestion process where the abattoir waste is treated in a covered lagoon to biologically break down the effluent and produce biogas.
The lagoon acts like a giant bladder that can expand to hold biogas when energy demand is low, saving it to generate power when demand hits a peak.
Simultaneously, this system also disposes of waste from the abattoir and reduces methane emissions.
Biogas is treated and transferred to two 800 kW dual fuel generators to produce approximately 3800 MWh of electricity per year for use during the manufacturing process to reduce peak electricity consumption.
The generators are able to supplement the biogas with natural gas, allowing the plant to minimise the use of electricity from the grid during peak usage and peak charge periods.
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said bioenergy represented a significant opportunity for the livestock processing sector to switch to renewable generation and reduce exposure to energy prices.
“Bioenergy also has environmental benefits for being able to re-use the effluent rather than disposing of the waste,” he said.
