Australia has told its data centres to put more power into the grid than they pull out, an obligation no other country has tried to write into law.
The demand is barely a fortnight old, and it has already met the most basic of objections: the electricity the industry is meant to supply cannot be built quickly enough to match the machines that will consume it.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese set out the framework on July 15 at the University of Sydney, part of a wider national push on artificial intelligence that also touches copyright and a new Office of AI.
Under the plan, large centres would have to become net-generators rather than net-users, funding fresh renewable capacity instead of simply buying green certificates, paying their full grid-connection costs rather than passing them to households, minimising water use, and easing off when the system is under strain.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!A new Office of AI would set the rules on where centres are built and how much power and water they can use. If it passes, Australia would be the first country to bundle those obligations into a single national law.
