The Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council (ECMC) has approved Anthony Albanese’s plan requiring data centres to invest in renewable energy generation, despite opposition from Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Albanese proposed that data centres will be required to invest in renewable energy, underwrite new power supply and replace energy taken from the grid. The proposal also required data centres to minimise water usage and to maximise efficiency.

These rules would aim to minimise strain on the grid and prevent costs from being passed on to everyday Australians.

The plan was presented at yesterday’s virtual ECMC meeting, a council made up of energy ministers from each state as well as the federal government.

The opposing ministers disputed “a set of AI Standards outlining minimum requirements in relation to energy, water and location”, as well as a nationally consistent approach to regulating data centres.

Any changes to legislation won’t be considered until September this year, when the federal government will be looking for unanimous support from state and territory governments, to ensure consumers aren’t facing higher energy costs.

The Coalition has argued that the proposed changes are too restrictive.

Shadow Energy and Emissions Minister Dan Tehan has suggested nuclear power as an important alternative to consider, instead of renewable energy.

“The problem is that the government has said that pretty much it’s wind and solar as the only two forms of renewable energy that data centres can use,” Tehan said in an interview with the ABC.

He cited Google and Amazon as examples of effective zero emission, nuclear powered, data centres.

Photo: by U.S. Secretary of Defense is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons Licence. This image has been cropped.