Large data centres should serve as “anchor tenants” for new renewable energy generation, storage, and transmission investment, leveraging the scale and longevity of digital infrastructure commitments to advance energy projects rather than waiting for supply to arrive.
These are the words of Sabooh Whitelaw, associate vice-president, energy and utilities at AirTrunk, addressing the audience at the Australian Clean Energy Summit 2026 in Sydney on Tuesday (28 July).
Whitelaw, who previously worked in transmission at TransGrid before joining the data centre operator, said the framing of how Australia plans for data centre demand matters as much as the obligations placed on the sector.
“Building for demand starts with a narrow question: how do we supply the electricity required by this new load? Building from demand asks a more valuable question: how can credible, long-term digital demand help bring forward the generation, storage, and transmission that we already need?”
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AirTrunk, founded in Australia in 2015, operates 11 data centres across seven cities and five markets in the Asia Pacific region. Its customers include large cloud technology and artificial intelligence companies.
Whitelaw said the company already matches 86% of its energy use in Australia with renewables, but acknowledged more work was needed across the sector.
Whitelaw referenced figures from the Clean Energy Council estimating that data centres currently represent approximately 2% of National Electricity Market (NEM) demand, a figure it projects could rise to around 10% by 2050. It was almost no surprise that this rising demand made data centres something of a “buzzword” across the two-day event, where it featured across multiple panel discussions.
Whitelaw framed that growth within the broader context of an electricity system already under pressure from coal retirement, transport and industrial electrification, and population growth.
“Australia needs to build at an unprecedented scale. We need substantially more generation, storage, and transmission, regardless of whether another data centre is approved,” she says.
The policy landscape around data centre energy obligations has shifted rapidly in recent weeks.
On 15 July, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that large-scale data centres would be legally required to put at least as much energy into the grid as they draw from it, committing to a net-generator obligation that would require facilities to underwrite new renewable energy generation and firming capacity, pay their full share of connection costs, and reduce demand when required to support grid stability.
The government’s approach is expected to go to national cabinet next month, with legislation targeted for introduction to parliament early next year.
In reference to the announcement, Whitelaw said AirTrunk supported the underlying principle.
“New energy-intensive infrastructure should contribute to the new energy it requires for its growth. It should pay its way, and its development should create value for the broader community.”
She also noted that the Clean Energy Council released its flexible contracting framework last week, which she said recognised the need for additional firm renewables, the timing gap between data centres and renewable energy projects, and a glide path as facilities ramp load.
The regulatory framework is also evolving at the technical level. In March 2026, the Australian Energy Market Commission proposed new standards requiring large data centres to remain connected during grid faults rather than disconnecting, following international incidents in which facilities tripped simultaneously during disturbances, causing cascading blackouts.
The draft standards apply to facilities with loads of 30MW or more and align with requirements used or proposed in Texas, Ireland and Finland.
Three principles for a workable framework
Whitelaw set out three principles she argued should guide the design of any policy framework governing data centre energy obligations.
The first is aligning the pace of digital and energy infrastructure development. She noted that a major data centre campus can move from planning to operation in around two years, while new renewable energy generation, transmission and network upgrades take considerably longer.
“If energy planning waits until every megawatt of demand is fully contracted, the infrastructure will arrive too late,” she says.
Her proposed solution draws on an analogy from commercial property: data centres can function as “anchor tenants for energy infrastructure,” providing enough certainty of long-term demand at a known location to give renewable energy developers and investors confidence to commit capital before final demand is locked in.
Fluence, a battery storage system integrator, has argued along similar lines, contending that battery storage systems can help data centres smooth power demand, accelerate connection times and create flexible power architectures that enable faster deployment while supporting the renewable energy transition.
The second principle is to focus on outcomes while allowing flexibility in how they are delivered.
Whitelaw pointed to Ireland’s connection policy, which requires data centres to meet at least 80% of annual demand with additional Irish renewable energy projects while allowing a six-year glide path for those projects to be developed.
“Australia should design for its own market, but the principle is sound. Strong additionality requirements need a credible runway if they are to bring new projects forward, rather than making compliance impossible.”
She said the framework should permit a range of commercial models, including long-term power purchase agreements, direct investment in generation or storage, and behind-the-meter or grid-connected assets.
The third principle is maintaining commercial discipline. Whitelaw was direct about the limits of what data centre demand can and should underwrite.
“Long-term data centre demand is very valuable to energy projects. It is not a blank cheque.”
She said data centres should not be positioned as a solution for projects whose economics do not stand on their own.
“Strong demand cannot compensate for poor project economics. The framework must improve bankability while preserving commercial discipline.”
She framed the obligations as reciprocal. Data centres need to provide credible demand forecasts and long-term commitments. Developers and network businesses need to deliver projects with competitive economics, and governments need to provide a stable, nationally consistent framework.
Whitelaw also noted that the communities hosting the generation, storage and transmission infrastructure supporting digital growth would often be located far from the data centres themselves.
“Social licence will depend on whether communities can see the connection between the infrastructure they’re hosting in their backyard and the opportunity it creates,” she says.
Whitelaw closed by noting that AirTrunk had joined the Clean Energy Council, framing the membership as reflecting the need for industries that have traditionally worked separately to collaborate on shared infrastructure challenges.
“We, the data centres, are the demand looking for energy infrastructure. This group has the energy infrastructure looking for long-term demand. Our task is to turn that alignment into projects that are credible, commercial, and built.”
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