Climate groups back push for data centres to BYO renewables, ahead of Friday ministers’ meeting

Artificial intelligence hubs must be powered by additional renewable energy projects rather than credits, and the projects should be built within years rather than decades. 

Climate groups issued the call on Monday before a meeting of national and state energy ministers that is expected to discuss obligations for Australia’s data centre boom. 

The call comes less than two weeks after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans to ensure data centre operators paid for new energy projects to power their developments, and after research showed most Australians supported the measure. 

The Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council is expected to hold a virtual meeting within days to discuss topics including data centre energy obligations. 

At the last meeting, energy ministers from all states but Queensland agreed data centre operators should fully offset their power use with renewable sources, in addition to providing greater transparency around their emissions. 

About 162 data centres operate in Australia, with more than 90 planned to meet growing demand for artificial intelligence tools. 

Strict rules should be introduced to ensure new data centres are powered by additional renewable energy projects, Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said, and that those projects were built in a timely manner. 

“Australians in every corner of the nation understand exactly what’s at stake and it’s important that energy ministers representing every corner of the nation have that front of mind when they meet in the coming days,” he said. 

“Each state and territory must come to the table and put the interests of their communities ahead of the profits of tech giants and fossil fuel corporations.”

A survey of more than 1600 Australians conducted by the Climate Council found more than two in three were concerned data centres would drive up power bills (67 per cent), and four in five thought developers should pay for renewable energy and storage required to power them (82 per cent). 

The Australian Conservation Foundation and Greenpeace have also called for rules to ensure data centres are powered by additional clean energy projects, and do not rely on fossil fuels such as gas.

Data centres are currently approved by state governments, although the Australian Energy Market Commission is due to issue advice on renewable energy regulations and technical standards for connecting large developments to the grid in July. 

In announcing rules for AI development in Australia, Mr Albanese said a future national framework would include rules for powering large data centres, with legislation expected in 2027.

Source: AAP