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Australia weighs $28bn outback AI data centre
A proposed off-grid campus in the Northern Territory would start with 1GW of capacity and run on gas, solar, and batteries.
Image: TNW
A developer based in Singapore wants to build one of the southern hemisphere’s largest data centres on a cattle station in Australia’s Northern Territory, about 683km south of Darwin. The proposal, known as Project Ares, was filed by Energy North with Australia’s federal environment department in June and is now open for public comment.
The project would be built at Murranji Station in the gas-rich Barkly region, near the Beetaloo basin. It is designed as an off-grid campus powered by a mix of gas-fired generation, solar, and batteries — a notable choice as Australian regulators tighten energy rules around AI infrastructure.
The cost is large, but not fully settled. Energy North expects to invest about AU$11.9 billion in the first phase alone, according to Data Center Dynamics. Bloomberg put the full project at around $28 billion, though that figure has not appeared elsewhere, and the report did not specify the currency or build-out stage.
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The first phase would deliver 1 gigawatt of computing capacity in two 500MW stages, with the site intended to scale beyond 5GW over time. Planned power infrastructure includes:
- roughly 1,038MW of gas-fired generation, described as hydrogen-ready
- 3GW of solar
- 16GWh of battery storage
The data centre buildings would cover about 90 hectares, while the full site spans roughly 19,150 hectares. The solar farm alone could take up as much as 7,000 hectares.
Approvals and energy strategy
Building entirely behind the meter avoids a growing problem in Australia’s more populated regions. Grid operators have warned that data-centre capacity around western Sydney is nearing exhaustion, pushing developers toward inland sites with cheaper land and dedicated power supplies.
The proposal has been granted Commonwealth Major Project Status, which helps coordinate federal processes but is not an approval. The Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority is reviewing the referral, and the project also needs a decision under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act before construction can begin.
Energy North is owned by Raggiana Global and led by Scott Criddle, a former chief executive of engineering contractor Decmil. The company describes itself as an independent Australian green-energy developer and says gas would act as a reliability bridge before renewables take a larger role. That argument mirrors claims made by other Nvidia-backed data-centre projects in Australia.
Why the Northern Territory is drawing hyperscalers
The Beetaloo basin has long been promoted by Canberra as central to a gas-led recovery, and a data centre that uses gas on site gives that resource a direct customer. That helps explain why the sparsely populated Territory — with abundant land and sunshine but limited grid infrastructure — is starting to attract hyperscale interest.
It also exposes the project’s core tension: a campus pitched as becoming cleaner over time would begin with gas generation close to 1GW. A final investment decision is targeted for 12 to 18 months after approvals, with the first phase expected to be built in a similar timeframe after that.
Project Ares is one of roughly a dozen data-centre proposals now lodged across the Territory, alongside Energy North’s earlier-stage Project Sol for green hydrogen and ammonia.
Enterprise Editor
Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via TNW
