A new $81.4 million bioenergy facility at Horsley Park has been approved to supply green gas to Austral Bricks’ manufacturing kiln.
The anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, designed to replace fossil gas with biogas derived from organic waste, will be built adjacent to Austral’s Brickworks Plant 2.
It will process up to 150,000 tonnes of solid and liquid organic waste annually – primarily from commercial, industrial, agricultural and residential sources.
The facility is being developed by Austral Bricks in partnership with Delorean Corporation and will operate 24/7.
It will use six tanks and associated infrastructure to generate biogas and produce up to 150,000 tonnes of digestate per year. The biogas will be conveyed via a high-pressure underground pipeline directly into the kiln fuel supply, with the digestate either reused or further processed.
Construction will require significant earthworks and is expected to generate 252 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs. Once operational, the facility will support seven FTE roles.
The development footprint spans 38,403 m2 within Austral’s 81 hectare brickworks site. Although part of the Western Sydney Parklands, the site is zoned for permissible use under the State Environmental Planning Policy (Precincts – Western Parkland City) 2021.
“Austral Bricks’ adoption of bioenergy demonstrates how industry can play a vital role in achieving the State’s climate goals,” said Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully.
This facility is expected to reduce Austral Bricks’ Scope 1 emissions from Plant 2’s kiln by 99 per cent, according to the Climate Change Mitigation Plan.