The Northern Territory government is forging ahead with high-octane plans to make the Top End of Australia the “data centre of the globe,” setting aside 185 hectares of land for the $40 billion, gas-powered, “hyperscale” AI ambitions of ASX-listed miner Beetaloo Energy Australia.
The NT CLP on Wednesday granted the newly launched subsidiary Beetaloo Digital an exclusive commitment over 185 hectares of land at Weddell, about 30km from Darwin, to develop its plans for a massive integrated data centre “cornerstoned” by Beetaloo gas.
Beetaloo Energy holds 28.9 million acres of gas exploration tenements in the McArthur Basin and Beetaloo Sub-basins in the NT.
The Beetaloo fossil gas resource, which the CLP has previously described as “cleaner than fossil fuels,” has been embraced by the Territory government, despite also being described as a “carbon bomb” that could release 1.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases and boost Australia’s total emissions by up to 20 per cent.
The miner’s plans under its new digital arm are to use the gas produced by fracking the Beetaloo Basin to supply up to 2 gigawatts of on-site power generation for a large-scale integrated data centre on the land at Weddell, adjacent to the NT government’s proposed Darwin Energy Hub.
“The proposed development is intended to accelerate development of Beetaloo Energy’s Beetaloo Basin gas resource, creating a significant and durable domestic market, with the remaining capacity to be underpinned by the continuous energy demand of data centre operations,” Beetaloo Energy says in a statement.
“This proposal has the potential to create a significant new domestic gas market for Beetaloo Energy with each GW of compute power campus requiring up to 200 TJ / day of gas for power generation.”
The plans don’t quite fit with the federal government’s plans to make it mandatory for new data centre developers to match their demand with new firmed renewables, but for its part the territory government is well pleased with the idea of a mostly gas-fuelled AI boom.
“Data centre proponents are looking to the Territory because of the promise of reliable and affordable Beetaloo gas-to-power supported by renewables, and because of how close and connected we are to major Asian markets and digital superpowers,” chief minister Lia Finocchiaro said on Wednesday.
“The Territory has the answer to everything this country needs to be successful, including energy, digital capacity, defence, minerals, and agriculture.”
Under the “not to deal” arrangement, the Finocchiaro government commits to give Beetaloo Digital the exclusive right to make plans for the Weddell site while the company progresses the project and investigates its feasibility.
Beetaloo Energy says it affords its new subsidiary the certainty to secure consortium partners and progress pre-FEED studies.
“The Weddell site gives us a strong foundation to advance discussions with potential consortium partners, scale, proximity to existing and planned infrastructure, and Beetaloo Energy’s significant gas resources,” said Beetaloo Energy managing director Alex Underwood in a statement.
“Beetaloo Digital does not propose to consume power from the Northern Territory grid, we intend to add to it. We intend to overbuild gereration capacity, providing the NT the potential to gain a reliable, large-scale baseload electricity source as a direct outcome of this development.
“Our proposal has the potential to create a significant new domestic gas market for Beetaloo Energy while supporting long-term economic development in the Northern Territory,” Underwood says.
“Hyperscale data centres and AI factories operate continuously, creating a durable, predictable demand profile that underpins long-term field development, accelerates upstream investment, and positions Beetaloo Digital as a potential sustained, large-scale cash flow generator for Beetaloo Energy.”
For green groups, Beetaloo Energy’s plan to flip the BYO power script and bring its own data centre demand for the gas it extracts from the basin underscores the urgent need on a national moratorium on new data development until federal rules are bedded down.
“This disaster proposal for a 2GW gas-powered AI data centre in the NT is a shocking example of the unchecked expansion of hyperscale data centres in Australia,” said the head of climate and energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Joe Rafalowich.
“[It] mirrors the frenzied, unchecked expansion currently wreaking havoc on communities in the US.
“Every day, more councils, communities and environmental groups are joining Greenpeace’s call for a moratorium on data centres, yet as of today there is still no system of safeguards or rules in place to regulate these companies.
“While Beetaloo Energy and the NT government prepare to bulldoze ahead with this climate and water disaster, the Prime Minister is asleep at the wheel, promising to legislate a vague set of standards next year.
“Next year is too late, and anything less than mandating data centres cover their own energy demand, and then some, with new renewable energy is not enough.”
Environment Centre Northern Territory (ECNT) wants a moratorium on both data centres and fracking, so their impacts on the Territory’s climate and scarce water supplies can be properly considered.
It notes that the NT is forecast to become unliveable due to climate change within a couple of generations, with new data showing the Territory’s annual greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 142 per cent on the 2005 baseline,
“This is just the beginning,” Environment Centre NT executive director Kirsty Howey said on Wednesday. “The Finocchiaro government wants to dump a dirty dozen of data centres in our communities.
“We will stand with communities to fight the dystopian future planned for the NT by the Finocchiaro government – AI data centres powered by climate-destroying fracked gas and billions of litres of the NT’s precious water.”
If you would like to join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
