Labor and the Greens have accused the government of secrecy over AI data centres, as the premier declined to name new proponents or say how much they will pay communities.
In state parliament today, opposition leader Josh Willie asked how much Firmus would be required to pay each year into the government’s proposed community benefit fund, starting with its St Leonards site.
He also asked whether an unsolicited proposal, which the government is paying a Sydney consultant almost $100,000 to assess, was for another data centre.
Greens MP Tabatha Badger asked the Premier to name the locations and proponents of all data centres proposed in Tasmania.
“Tasmanians deserve transparency about these plans,” she said.
Badger pointed to possible projects near Nook and at Bothwell, saying Hydro Tasmania had told a parliamentary committee yesterday that it was in talks with an unnamed data centre proponent about a power deal.
Willie also asked whether data centres would be required to match their load with new renewable generation built in Tasmania.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said data centre proponents “will be contributing” to the community fund, but the government was “working through the details now on how that will be implemented.”
The government announced the fund on October 14 but has not said how much companies will pay or how contributions will be calculated.
Rockliff said submissions on the government’s draft expectations for data centres closed in mid-October and were being reviewed before the final version was released.
He said Treasury’s guidelines on unsolicited proposals were being followed but did not say what the proposal was.
Rockliff said the Office of the Coordinator-General was aware of a proponent discussing land with landholders near Nook.
“The project is at a very early feasibility stage,” he said.
“The proponent has advised it is yet to decide whether to proceed and will undertake due diligence, including community consultation before making that decision.”
Despite not yet holding a seat in state or federal parliament, outspoken One Nation State President Lee Hanson called on the government to rule out the use of farmland at Nook for data centres.
“Nook is farming country,” she said.
“A 300 megawatt industrial plant belongs on industrial land, with the roads and infrastructure built for it, not in the paddocks of the Kentish district.”
Hanson said Nook sat next to a recently upgraded substation, the kind of site the government says companies look for.
“If that’s the test, farmland near every substation in the north-west is now in play,” she said.
She called on the government to “name the company so the community knows who it is dealing with” and create a planning category for data centres that would prohibit large-scale facilities in agricultural and rural zones.
Last week, the Office of the Coordinator-General confirmed the north-west proposal but declined to name the company, after the Greens said Nook landholders had been approached to sell farmland.
The Greens say documents tabled in parliament describe a 200 to 300-megawatt data centre.
Rockliff said proponents were expected to meet network costs, support new renewable generation and publicly report their water and power use every quarter.
He said his understanding was Firmus had committed to matching its load with new renewable generation and it would “be part of the contract process.”
Firmus has told a parliamentary committee it will underwrite at least two megawatts of new renewable capacity for every megawatt of its Tasmanian load, through offtake agreements rather than capital investment.
Its three Tasmanian sites are expected to need about 444 megawatts, which would make it the state’s largest electricity user.
