The Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council (ECMC) subsequently backed a nationally consistent framework at its 28 July meeting, with Queensland and the Northern Territory the only jurisdictions to oppose the approach. AEMO has separately lodged a rule change request addressing grid-supportive behaviour within the operational timeframe, covering fault ride-through, ramping and related requirements.
All of that policy activity is running in parallel, and both Markham and Monday are alert to the risk of those streams pulling in different directions.
“We’ve got the National Electricity Market (NEM) implementation now. We’ve got new directives coming from ECMC, and it’s at risk of creating a really complicated patchwork for what is ultimately a government commitment to decarbonise by a certain date,” Markham says.
“We need a clearly defined, simple policy, and then if hyperscalers genuinely need 24/7 clean power, that will come through.”
Monday frames the stakes plainly. “If we don’t solve it, data centres are going to look elsewhere. It is a rich opportunity for industry and policymakers to come together and figure out what the solution looks like.”
