Assessment of Victoria's Biogas Potential
Context and objectives
In February 2020, the Victorian Government announced the $10 million waste to energy support package as part of Recycling Victoria: A new economy, the 10-year action plan to reform Victoria’s waste and recycling system. Amongst other targets, this action plan aims to halve the volume of organic waste going to landfill by 2030. In line with this target, anaerobic digestion is considered a priority for investment in waste to energy infrastructure by the Victorian Government.
In light of this funding announcement as well as the closure of the SV administered Waste to Energy Infrastructure Fund in 2016 and Bioenergy Infrastructure Fund in 2019, Sustainability Victoria engaged Enea Consulting to complete a project that evaluates the two rounds of funding and investigates the landscape for future investment in anaerobic digestion in Victoria. This project (titled W2E Infrastructure Fund Evaluation and Sector Development) comprises 3 main phases, each with its own objective:
- W2E Infrastructure Fund evaluation: Evaluate how the W2E Infrastructure Fund was delivered by measuring performance against program objectives
- Estimate of Victoria’s biogas potential: Analyse and expand the Australian Biomass for Bioenergy Assessment (ABBA) project biomass data and provide an estimate of Victoria’s (anaerobic digestion) biogas potential
- Government measures and interventions: Investigate global measures and intervention strategies that facilitate anaerobic digestion infrastructure development and provide recommendations for Victoria.
This estimation report encompasses the second phase of the project. The findings of this estimation informs Phase 3 of the overall project, specifically the recommendations for Sustainability Victoria and the Victorian Government to support investment in infrastructure for anaerobic digestion.
Read the Phase 3 report on government measures and interventions for biogas.