The Northern Territory government is forging ahead with high-octane plans to make the Top End of Australia the “data centre of the globe,” setting aside 185 hectares of land for the $40 billion, gas-powered, “hyperscale” AI ambitions of ASX-listed miner Beetaloo Energy Australia.
The NT CLP on Wednesday granted the newly launched subsidiary Beetaloo Digital an exclusive commitment over 185 hectares of land at Weddell, about 30km from Darwin, to develop its plans for a massive integrated data centre “cornerstoned” by Beetaloo gas.
Beetaloo Energy holds 28.9 million acres of gas exploration tenements in the McArthur Basin and Beetaloo Sub-basins in the NT.
The Beetaloo fossil gas resource, which the CLP has previously described as “cleaner than fossil fuels,” has been embraced by the Territory government, despite also being described as a “carbon bomb” that could release 1.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases and boost Australia’s total emissions by up to 20 per cent.
The miner’s plans under its new digital arm are to use the gas produced by fracking the Beetaloo Basin to supply up to 2 gigawatts of on-site power generation for a large-scale integrated data centre on the land at Weddell, adjacent to the NT government’s proposed Darwin Energy Hub.
