🤝 What happened: At this week’s national cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to let Queensland take a "technology agnostic" approach to powering data centres, opening the door to coal and gas rather than requiring new renewable generation.

🗣️"We still need a lot of details from the PM, from [Chris] Bowen's office and from industry before we make a call on this," Alex Hoysted, head of strategy at the not-for-profit Carbon Zero Initiative, told the National Account.

He said the biggest risks are uncertainty for investors deciding where to build data centres, and the possibility the carve-out slows Australia's broader renewable energy ambitions.

The written laws aren’t expected until February or March next year.

⚡ Queensland’s push: Renewables remain the cheapest way to build new electricity generation, but take three to five years to connect to the grid, according to Hoysted.

There’s a chance data centre operators could opt for gas turbines to power their facilities due to a faster build time, with the consequence of higher operating costs and emissions.

Hoysted said Queensland is already a less attractive destination for data centre investment due to its hotter climate and the fact it’s a smaller business hub than Sydney and Melbourne. 

This matters because of latency, the time it takes data to travel across a network.

🏭 Industry needs: Despite Queensland's carve-out, Hoysted said data centre operators would likely choose renewables anyway.

He said operators are conscious of the "social license" risk of backing gas or coal projects, and that industry sources have told him they'd prefer strict, clear national rules over what he called "a race to the bottom across all different states”.

Watch the National Account's Archie Milligan below:

Thumbnail: AAP