Northern Territory Suburb Earmarked for $40 Billion Gas-Powered Data Centre

A suburb on the outskirts of Darwin has been earmarked as the future site for a $40 billion data centre, powered by gas fracked and piped directly from the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin, south of Katherine.

Weddell, in Darwin's rural area, was previously flagged as the location of the Top End's next satellite city, but has now been selected as the site of a possible hyperscale data centre and gas-fired power station.

Lands, Planning and Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne today announced the NT government had signed a "do-not-deal" agreement over a 185-hectare parcel of land, to allow gas company Beetaloo Energy to explore plans for an energy and data centre precinct.

The agreement gives Beetaloo Energy exclusive rights over the land, granting them time to secure investors and work out whether the project is viable.

"It gives a clear signal to investors out there that this government is open for business," Mr Burgoyne said.

Beetaloo Energy managing director Alex Underwood said the company's vision for the project was "bold but simple" — "to create a fully-integrated energy and digital infrastructure precinct".

"The demand for power into data centres, both here in Australia and globally, is truly insatiable," he said.

"This, in my opinion, is the next wave of the Industrial Revolution."

Mr Underwood said the project had the potential to generate tens of billions of dollars of investment and hundreds of jobs, but acknowledged there was still a long way to go before the project could become a reality.

The data centre would require two gigawatts of power to operate — more than six times the maximum demand for all of Darwin and Katherine in 2024-25.

Mr Underwood said if completed, the project would rival the scale of Western Australia's Ichthys LNG facility, one of gas giant Inpex's biggest oil projects in the world.

He said the company planned to "deliberately oversize" the proposed Weddell power plant to feed energy into Darwin's energy grid, instead of drawing from it.

"If you add to supply, that should put downward pressure on prices," he said.

Mr Underwood emphasised the project was "at day one" and would require "significant government approvals and financing" to come to fruition.

"To the people of the Northern Territory, I say this — I know you will have questions and potentially concerns about what we are planning to do here," he said.

He would not confirm who the commercial partners for the construction or development of the data centre might be or how water allocations would be managed.

Mr Underwood said the centre would present an opportunity to partner with renewable energy projects such as SunCable's proposed outback solar farm, but could not say to what extent renewable energy sources would be used.

"We do see an opportunity for both gas as base load and then, as renewables are available, then they can be integrated into the project," he said.

Mr Underwood said the project would be done in "an environmentally responsible manner" and "with the full backing of the Northern Territory community".

The announcement has sparked renewed calls from environmental groups, including the Environment Centre NT, for a moratorium on data centre projects in the Territory.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific head of climate and energy Joe Rafalowicz described the announcement as a "shocking example of the unchecked expansion of hyperscale data centres in Australia".