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.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that large-scale data centres will be legally required to put at least as much energy into the grid as they draw from it, and that this supply must be renewable energy.
Australia’s New South Wales has seen 532MW of firming projects contracted through its seventh infrastructure tender, securing two projects designed to strengthen electricity supply during periods of peak demand and system stress in the Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong region.
Fluence’s chief growth officer, Jeff Monday, and Australia strategy lead, Sam Markham, discuss hyperscale opportunities, grid-forming evolution, and the company’s high-density Smartstack deployment plans.
Australian mining giant Fortescue has accelerated its timeline for deploying 4-5GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) paired with 1.8GW of renewable energy generation, which it now expects to begin commercial operation by 2028.
Construction has officially commenced on a network upgrade in Australia’s New South Wales Upper Hunter region, which is set to boost transfer capacity by at least 1GW by 2028, in support of the state’s renewable energy transition.
