Devil in the detail of data centre energy rules: Climate Council

Climate Council Media Release

Please find below Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie’s response to today’s communique from the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council (ECMC) meeting:

“It’s encouraging that most states and territories agree that we need additional renewable energy to power data centres, and that the Albanese government plans to legislate imminently. It is vital that data centres are powered with additional renewables to protect consumers from price and pollution spikes.

“But, there was no agreement on the time frame. Data centres are coming on line very quickly, so the National Electricity Rules must ensure that they are required to source additional renewable power from the get-go.”

“Unfortunately, the Queensland and Northern Territory governments continue to put the interests of big tech and fossil fuel corporations first, failing to back strong rules that protect Australians from rising power bills and pollution.

“Unless these hold-out governments get on-board, Queenslanders and Territorians will be left paying higher power bills, and we will all pay the price of higher climate pollution.

Background:

Australian Energy and Climate Change Ministers, with the exception of the Northern Territory and Queensland, have today:

• Supported the Commonwealth’s commitment to legislate national standards to ensure that new large-scale data centres underwrite new renewable power supply, and that consumers face no price impacts from data centres entering the grids.
• Agreed to develop changes to National Electricity Rules, to ensure that data centres can offset their electricity demand with new renewable generation.
• Agreed that a nationally consistent approach to data centre regulation is preferred.

Proposed legislation and rule changes are expected to be developed over coming months.

The details of these changes, including the timeframes and accepted methods to demonstrate compliance, will be critical to ensure Australians are protected from increases in power prices and climate pollution.