Chris Bowen vows to override Queensland and NT to force renewables-powered AI datacentres

Australia’s federal government plans to override Queensland and the Northern Territory with national rules that would require new AI datacentres to be powered by renewable energy and prohibit gas-only projects. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said commonwealth legislation will enforce standards on energy sourcing, backup power, efficiency, water use and grid connection costs. The move is designed to protect household bills and grid reliability as datacentre demand accelerates, especially in Western Sydney where the AEMC says connection requests are surging. Market implications are mainly for Australia’s power infrastructure and renewable-energy developers, since datacentre operators will likely need to secure renewable supply or certificates and shoulder more of their own grid costs. The policy also reduces the attractiveness of gas-backed datacentre proposals and could shift investment toward renewable generation and storage.