Tasmania’s energy minister, Nick Duigan, has put a number on it: more than 400 megawatts. That is what Firmus Technologies would need to run three AI data centres in the island state’s north, and it would make the company Tasmania’s biggest power user.
The Urban Developer, reporting on the planning documents, put the scale in context. If all three sites go ahead, the load would equal about a fifth of the state’s current electricity demand and exceed what every household in Tasmania uses combined.
Three sites
Construction is already under way on the first, Project Southgate at St Leonards, near Launceston. Firmus has lodged development applications for the other two, at Bell Bay and Wesley Vale. The Bell Bay proposal, now before the George Town Council, is a 300-megawatt facility on the old Gunns pulp mill site, a $2.3-billion project that collapsed in 2012 when the timber company failed. It would run around the clock, with about 70 permanent daytime staff and 25 more covering evenings and nights. Plans list 128 diesel back-up generators, each able to hold 10,000 litres of fuel.
Power is partly arranged. Firmus signed a three-year deal in March with the state-owned retailer Aurora Energy for up to 104 megawatts for the Launceston plant. The government says the price was set at market rates and is not subsidised.
The argument
Premier Jeremy Rockliff is relaxed. “We have the power to be able to ensure that these AI data centres can go ahead and provide investment, local jobs, opportunity throughout their supply chain as well,” he told reporters, adding that the company pays more for its power than major industrial customers do. The Greens, he said, are making “the next scary thing” out of it.
The Greens want a moratorium until Tasmania has its own rules, plus parliamentary oversight and regular public reporting of energy and water use. Their technology spokesperson, Tabatha Badger, said people “don’t have the answers” and have no confidence of a fair say. She also doubted that new renewable projects could be built before the data centres switch on, and questioned whether the deal Firmus is negotiating with Hydro Tasmania is within the generator’s remit.
Firmus says it will match its power use with renewable energy credits at first and will finance suppliers to build double the renewable energy it consumes. After a backlash over Bell Bay, co-CEO Tim Rosenfield said the company would hold drop-in sessions and webinars. “We want to get together with the community and present and explain what we’re doing,” he told ABC Radio Hobart.
Parliament has since stepped in. W.Media reported that a House of Assembly committee began an inquiry on August 5, with submissions due by September 21. It is not aimed at Firmus specifically, and it does not halt existing projects.
Sources
- Firmus wants to build three AI data centres in Tasmania, but can the state handle them? (ABC News)
- Firmus Plots AI Supercampus for Contentious Tassie Mill Site (The Urban Developer)
- Tasmania launches parliamentary inquiry into AI data centres (w.media)
