The tussle over Australian datacentres is just beginning – and it’s been far from easy so far | Tom McIlroy
TL;DR
Australia's grid operator AEMO buried a striking number in its annual supply and demand snapshot: datacentre electricity consumption is forecast to rise from around 3 percent of all power supplied through the national grid today to roughly 13 percent by 2035. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under pressure from conservative state and territory leaders as he negotiates the country's AI build out. Who actually benefits from the new datacentres remains an open question.
Nauti's Take
The opportunity is in the forecast itself: once a grid operator puts a concrete number on demand, transmission, storage and generation can be sized deliberately instead of retrofitted later. The risk is distribution, because states compete for the sites while grid load and cost land on every consumer.
Good conditions for anyone shopping for capacity in Australia; households and industry should watch where power prices go.
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