Essay by Eric Worrall
A surge in data center demand is forcing politicians to revise energy transition roadmaps.
Data centres put brakes on Labor’s emissions goals
Ryan Cropp Energy and climate reporter
Updated Dec 1, 2025 – 8.29pm, first published at 6.03pmThe massive surge in planned data centre development has forced the Albanese government to downgrade its electricity sector emissions reduction forecasts as the renewables rollout struggles to keep pace with skyrocketing future power demand.
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According to the Climate Change Department, that growth – coupled with a recent rollback of Queensland government climate policy – will contribute to an additional 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from electricity by 2035 and an additional 16 million tonnes by 2040, relative to 2024 estimates.
…But energy supply remains a critical constraint on the industry’s growth. The Australian Financial Review reported on Sunday that the country’s largest data centre owner, AirTrunk, has been unable to source the full amount of power that it has sought for a major plant in Sydney’s west.
Read more (paywalled): https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/data-centres-put-brakes-on-labor-s-emissions-goals-20251201-p5njq3
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The coming decade is going to see interesting times for the green movement. If even green Australia is on the brink of caving to the energy needs of data centers, the energy transition dreams of the green movement are dead.
How will greens respond to such a total defeat? Will it be like the Soviet collapse, when bereft Western communists followed ex-Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev’s green leadership, and pivoted into becoming climate worriers? Will Greens pivot again into becoming a pure neo-Luddite movement, rising up and rebelling against the machines? Time will tell.
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Like a perpetual motion machine…it can’t really exist…
And yet it does. And it will continue to exist as long as guaranteed money is available for green energy spending, and as long as green energy ideologues are in control of government.
Just ask Steorn. They know that Orbo wasn’t actual overunity.
The cure is requiring AI Datacenters to supply their own generation requirements via a One Way Cogen situation. No grid supply support only feed in from their own potential excess generation capacity. If they generate 98% of their demand they function at 98%. If they produce 105% they function at 100% and sell the overcapacity through the grid. They decide for themselves how green they want to be and generate accordingly.
Another relevant question here …. will AI datacenters outbid other customers for access to limited supplies of power generation equipment? Indirectly raising the price of electricity for traditional consumers of electric power?
I asked Grok. States with high AI (relative to population average) 19.27c/kWh vs low 18.20. However, Virginia which has by far the highest AI is at 16.01. So it looks like planning is more important than how much AI. [NB. Grok said it could only do a rough estimate for AI because it can’t be separated from data centres. So the numbers are really for data centres + AI.]
That is one of those nice thought bubbles but very difficult legally.
1.) What defines an AI data centre
2.) Why does it attract a different set of rules under consumer law to any other industry that uses lots of power just because it’s the newest industry why is it targeted … I mean legally.
Those alone should keep the lawyers and politicians busy for years 🙂
The energy needs of AI will be put above the energy needs of the citizens of Australia and th b governments of every other western nation will do the same.
Absolutely. Data centers represent a substantial tax revenue opportunity politicians can use to buy more votes, so data center needs are far more important than the needs of the useful idiots who keep electing them.
As per above there are also no legal framework to separate a AI data center from any other heavy electrical use industry in any country I know. Politicians and greens are trying to push a whole pile of EV onto the grid to charge and the centers are simply using the same resource 🙂
Can you imagine how long the political arguments would rage to try and create such a law 🙂
You mean like who gets the juice? AI or EV?
When the real question is the juice worth the squeeze.
It would suck to be an AI programmer worrying about Net Zero….
but imagine being a coal miner.
We’ve already seen how that plays out. Google and Microsoft are pacifying the green hardliners in their ranks by throwing money at, shall we say, highly speculative nuclear fusion startups.
When the technocrats in Silicone Valley realized supporting Green means no more AI data centers they recanted. Not overtly, but quietly, so they wouldn’t upset the Left who they feigned to be aligned with so they could get a place at the trough. They already lost supplying the hardware to China in the Green revolution and that had to smart. Follow the money.
They should be called internet centers. They do not exist to store data. You reading what I type is a big part of what they do.
Well, I mean, that’s data. Are you talking about data transmission? That exists everywhere.
I just checked. Blackstone just bought AirTrunk for 24 billion dollars.
AirTrunk is building data centers for the cloud storage
business. Go to: https://airtrunk.com for more info.
Wind is not cooperating as a reliable source for Australia’s electricity grid in this first month of Summer.
They have about 16 months to sort it out
https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/news/are-we-ready-for-an-energy-blackout-eraring-s-2027-shutdown-could-change-everything/ar-AA1RAdjF?
That is the considered view not the Nick Stokes view on the closure and AEMO warning 🙂
My view I suspect the government with tax payer money will be paying to keep it running as long as possible.
It’s a bit surprising to me that our greenie friends seem to have been caught flat-footed on the data-center front.
You’d think that the narrative of tech billionaires vs. people would write itself.
LOL..As well as being total garbage, Australia’s “Net-Zero” plans are totally unachievable and concocted by a mindless idiot.
No, not idiots, Subversives. Remember, their goal is to destroy Western civilization.
If we had zero growth in energy demand wind and solar would struggle to keep up with demand. The need for lots more energy to power AI is a gift for these people. They know wind and solar can’t power the grid and they are doomed to failure. Now the have a crutch, if only AI hadn’t come along we could have made the transition but AI has ruined everything. Losing is tough.
They’re not quite there yet, for now they are trying to convince greens that AI will help solve the climate crisis by accelerating tech breakthroughs like nuclear fusion, but so far the rank and file aren’t buying it. The greens I know socially hate AI.
The greens don’t want cheap, reliable energy. They want the de-industrialization of the West.
You are right Eric, the vast majority of my family and friends are serious lefties. They aren’t stupid but mostly what they know about CAGW is what they hear on the news. When the news changes they will follow along like the faithful sheep that they are. In the end I think AI will be what the CAGW crackpots blame for their failure.
“They aren’t stupid but mostly what they know about CAGW is what they hear on the news. When the news changes they will follow along like the faithful sheep that they are.”
Sorry, Bob, but it does sound like they’re stupid, or just not inquisitive.
Given that they’ll be put out of work by LLM’s soon enough, I reckon that’s a safe bet.
Somewhat off topic but interesting.
It is one of those legitimate niche applications for solar voltaic electrical generation.
I learned this morning that the Baltimore Ravens (NFL football) are going to electrify the stadium by installing significant areas of SV panels. The electricity will only be used by the stadium and managed by the internal stadium “grid.” This reduces their load demand on the grid and given they will not export, does not impact grid stability. Numbers bandied about in the report may or may not be accurate so I omit them.
So the question is, can this be a demonstration for other similar useful applications?
Time will tell.