Anglo currently supplies waste coal mine gas from its Grasstree underground metallurgical coal mine to the facility and it will continue to do so until 2036.
The agreement will also provide ED with the ability to expand the project, which produced approximately 300,000 megawatt hours of clean energy and abated and avoided about 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas in the 2014 financial year.
“We are delighted to have agreed the extension of our German Creek power project until 2036,” ED managing director Greg Pritchard said.
“The extension also gives ED [the] opportunity to expand the project, with the associated potential for additional greenhouse gas abatement to benefit under the Federal government’s new Emissions Reduction Fund.
“This extension, coupled with the recent 18MW expansion and extension at Moranbah North, continues ED’s growth in distributed energy generation with its global mining customers.”
The German Creek WCMG project was completed with the assistance of a $15 million grant from the Australian government under its Greenhouse Gas Abatement program, supplemented by debt and cash reserves.
According to ED, the environmental benefit of the project is equivalent to taking more than 230,000 cars off the road in a full year.