Not-so green light for Qld to host nation’s largest data centre
An AI company’s billion-dollar deal for a data centre in Western Downs that could use three times more power than Brisbane residents is attracting criticism.
American-based artificial intelligence corporation Anthropic has signed a $32 billion deal to use a proposed data centre hub in Western Downs, Queensland, but fears are being raised about its hunger for power.
Subject to council approval, Western Downs Digital Park will be built by Singaporean developer Zerra DC and is set to be the largest data centre in the country with an expected power use of 1.5 million average Australian households per year.
The news was announced in State Parliament yesterday, drawing criticism from Climate Council Australia and its CEO Amanda McKenzie, who has compared the data centre’s energy usage to putting more than two million extra cars on the road.
It followed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently backing down on a major policy that would have required all new AI data centres to be powered by renewable energy rather than coal and gas.
Anthony Albanese left the door open at a meeting of the nation’s leaders to a more “flexible” approach as Queensland and the Northern Territory refused to agree to standards requiring them to use renewables for new data centre developments.
“This single facility could use three times more power than the 1.4 million residents of Brisbane, pushing up expensive and harmful coal and gas generation and adding an extra 6.6 million tonnes of climate pollution a year,” McKenzie said.
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She said it highlighted Australia’s need for clear national rules that every new data centre in Australia must be required to bring enough new, additional clean energy to meet its demand.
“The rules must apply to projects already in the pipeline – or massive proposals like this one will slip through the cracks, leaving households and existing industries to compete with the world’s biggest tech companies for power,” McKenzie said. “Modelling shows this could push up wholesale power prices by at least 13 percent in Queensland.”
The Climate Council said Queenslanders are on the frontlines of climate change, and are facing some of the most significant, fastest-growing risks in the country as coal, oil and gas keep heating our atmosphere.
“Rising seas and storm surge alone could cost the state $214.5 billion by the end of the century,” McKenzie saidd. “Yet the Queensland Government is choosing big tech and fossil fuel profits over its own community.”
The 1.44GW data centre would be positioned near existing energy infrastructure in the Western Downs region, connecting to the high-voltage grid through the existing Braemar substation.
The development plans included three gas-fired power stations as well as renewables, with the installation of a battery on-site to manage fluctuations in electricity demand and support the grid.
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Queensland’s current National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting electricity emissions factor the projects emissions estimate at 0.65 kg CO₂-e/kWh.
Premier David Crisafulli welcomed the billion-dollar deal yesterday, saying securing Anthropic’s first major investment in Australia was a massive show of confidence in Queensland.
“I also want to acknowledge the common sense decision endorsed by the Prime Minister to allow Queensland to chart its own path for power supply, but we must get it right and it must be on our terms,” Crisafulli said.
He said the project must add energy generation to the grid, drive down prices for Queenslanders, must protect local water supplies and respect the communities where centres were established.
The Queensland Government has said Anthropic was building in line with the Australian Government’s expectations for data centre development, with the lease subject to Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval.
It has also said the project will bear the full cost of connecting to the grid, including any network upgrades required for the project.
“We will take hold of the economic benefits of data centres with both hands but we’ll do it in the right locations and we’ll do it in the right way,” the Premier said. “Communities will have a say just as they do now for projects like wind, solar and batteries.”
The Queensland Government has said the project will use a closed-loop, air-cooled system that does not use water for evaporative cooling of the servers, with an on-site operational water use comparable with a conventional office building of the same size.
Capacity for Western Downs Digital Park is expected to start coming online in 2027
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