South Australia has launched a strategy to attract AI data centres, seeking to capitalise on growing electricity constraints threatening billions of dollars of investment in Sydney.
The South Australian government recently launched a comprehensive Data Centre Strategy to aggressively court billions in technology investments:
- Data Centre and AI Infrastructure Act: The state government has proposed a dedicated legislative framework to streamline approvals and establish custom planning pathways specifically for large-scale data centres.
- Essential Infrastructure Status: Amendments to the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act designate data centres as essential infrastructure, giving the state’s Coordinator-General direct decision-making power to fast-track major projects.
The Australian Newspaper recently published the fact that Sydney is now without available power to support further centres and the power available is some of the most expensive. Australia is a big place and that means land is available but in South Australia and Victoria renewable power is readily available and major data centre developers and operators are flocking to Victoria.
Recently The Age Newspaper wrote an article on the development of a new data centre in Geelong one of Australia’s fastest growing regions. The controversy surrounding the NEXTDC M3 facility on the border of Tottenham and West Footscray in Melbourne’s inner-west centres on intense community backlash regarding an aggressive 10-hectare expansion plan, which is currently awaiting a final decision from the Victorian State Government. When considering the issues of locating major data centres amongst residents of an inner city neighbourhood, the idea of locating these necessary and extensive facilities in regional centres provides appeal.
The Plumpton data centre mega-hub, also known as the Victorian AI Hub, is Australia’s largest proposed data centre project. Led by developer Syncline Energy, the 350-hectare precinct in Plumpton (30 km northwest of Melbourne’s CBD) features a planned capacity of 2.2 GW to 2.4 GW. This development is a distance from current housing developments.
Now South Australia wants to contribute and why not?
Adelaide is a fantastic place to live and work and has an abundance of available power (being renewable) and land and speaking with a colleague I was so advised has a very good fibre networks connecting east with west of the country. Adelaide is at the centre of the Trans Australia telecom networks. International data currently enters and leaves Australia primarily in Sydney and Perth. Adelaide is at the centre of these networks.
Iren (formerly Iris Energy) is building a $10 billion, 800-megawatt artificial intelligence data centre in Bundey, South Australia (about 165 km northeast of Adelaide). Powered by renewable energy, the campus will be built in stages starting in 2028 and is expected to connect via submarine fibre to hubs in Singapore, Japan, and Korea.
Firmus Technologies (Project Southgate) confirmed sites near Tailem Bend and Port Augusta to construct custom “AI factories”. The facilities will integrate specialised software to dynamically scale energy loads up or down based on grid demand and frequency fluctuations.
SkyLab Australia is developing a massive multi-staged project 120km South East of Adelaide featuring up to 800 MW of data centre capacity linked directly to an on-site 240MWp solar array and an 800MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
New hyperscale telecom networks are under construction with both Telstra and Inligo Networks deploying high capacity, low latency fibre networks (Inligo between Sydney/Melbourne to Darwin via Adelaide) making the South Australian state prime real estate for data centre development. The Unite Cable System is considered an industry game changer for data centre developers and operators. Adelaide for the first time will be connected not only on a east/west basis but once completed Adelaide could connect directly into Asia via Darwin.
Has the curtain finally fallen on Sydney Data Centre development or with bigger developments in Victoria and with South Australia now mobilising, was the curtain ever really up?
Why would you build data centres in a city that has limited water, power and economic land parcels? Makes no sense you wonder who is advising these international firms. Regional approach to data centre facilities is the key moving forward.