Australian Economy Australian Politics Carbon Economy

Data centres increase Australia’s fuel dependency

Tuesday 11 August 2026

The spurious claim that intermittent, weather-dependent energy is best to power data centres has been thoroughly debunked by the operators of such sites.

Over the weekend, The Age reported that Singapore-backed Zerra DC has proposed to build a $1.1 billion, 336‑MW data centre campus on Melbourne’s former Ford factory site, which could double the city’s total data‑centre power demand.

The proposal has gone direct to planning minister Sonya Kilkenny under fast‑track provisions that bypass council and VCAT challenges.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.