hit pause on a plan to develop a $20 billion data centre<\/a> and AI hub in Australia due to concerns it could face higher taxes across its Australian operations.<\/p>\n\u2018Competing for already constrained infrastructures\u2019<\/p>\n
Mirjalili said governments should require data centre developers to demonstrate clear support for renewable energy as part of the approvals process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a project adds major new demand to the grid, it should also help add new clean supply storage and flexibility,” he told Information Age.<\/p>\n
\u201cOtherwise, data centres may end up competing for already constrained infrastructures instead of helping expand it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why I think governments should push for a stronger link between project approval and demonstrated support for new renewable generation, storage and grid resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the best way to align data centre growth with broader national energy goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also called for greater transparency around how projects perform against these goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf these projects are meant to support the economy and the energy transition, the public should be able to see whether that is really happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be regular reporting on electricity demand, water use, efficiency, local impacts and infrastructure contributions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout that, good principles may still remain weak in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
$50bn in fast-tracked projects<\/p>\n
The NSW government has approved 15 data centre projects to progress through the Investment Delivery Authority, which is designed to accelerate approvals.<\/p>\n
Together, these projects are worth $51.9 billion.<\/p>\n
At the same time, proposals worth $40.7 billion were rejected from entering the fast-track process because they were deemed \u201cpremature or overly speculative\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mirjalilli said it\u2019s important that a faster process does not mean weaker scrutiny.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scale of investment is clearly significant\u2026speed should not come at the expense of proper assessment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLarge data centre projects can have major energy, water, land-use and community effects. So the planning process still needs to remain careful and credible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be a good step if it improves coordination and investment certainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a poor step if it weakens scrutiny or shifts costs and risks onto the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are already 90 data centres in NSW, with investment in the sector growing by an average of 65 per cent year-on-year over the past three years.<\/p>\n
Data centres now account for more than 10 per cent of all non-residential building investment in the state.<\/p>\n
Consultation<\/p>\n
The state government also released the NSW Data Centre Consultation Paper, outlining the principles-based approach it aims to use to balance the opportunities and challenges presented by data centres.<\/p>\n
These principles include requiring operators to fund their own infrastructure so costs are not passed on to households, ensuring energy efficiency and sustainability, and supporting the broader technology ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Mirjalili said the consultation is a good start, but urged the state government to go further than just principles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next step should be to turn these principles into clear standards, measurable benchmarks and enforceable conditions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The consultation paper has been welcomed by Data Centres Australia as a \u201cconstructive shift\u201d, but the organisation said it is concerned that any new framework may slow down the approval process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a global race for AI infrastructure,\u201d Data Centres Australia CEO Belinda Dennett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsian markets including India, Japan and Malaysia are competing aggressively for the same capital, offering faster approvals and clearer investment signals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny new framework must be accompanied by a faster, more streamlined approval process.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdding new requirements on top of existing delays will not deliver the outcomes the government is seeking; it will redirect investment to other markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
The federal government\u2019s new \u2018expectations\u2019 have also drawn criticism<\/a> from multiple sides. Operators have raised concerns about the exclusion of on-premise facilities, while environmental groups argue the measures should be made binding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Data centre operators should be required to prove they support renewable energy and publicly report their performance before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-574472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}