Story summary
Victoria, a state in Australia, is witnessing a boom in data center construction, particularly around Melbourne. One of the largest wind farms in the Southern Hemisphere, located near the township of Rokewood, has expanded its capacity to 1.3 gigawatts (GW), nearly doubling from 756 megawatts (MW). This increase makes it comparable to a coal-fired power station in terms of energy generation.
The Golden Plains Wind Farm supplies about 9% of Victoria's annual energy demand, with a significant portion going to major tech companies like Amazon and Equinix. These data centers will consume over 25% of the wind farm’s output, or approximately 352 MW. This rapid expansion underscores the growing importance of renewable energy in powering Australia's expanding technology sector.
In response to this growth, both the incumbent government and opposition are discussing plans for new high-voltage transmission lines to ensure sufficient power supply. While the Coalition promises to scrap the VNI West project if elected, it remains cautious about another proposed line, known as the Western Renewables Link, which would facilitate a 3GW increase in large-scale wind, battery, and solar developments from western Victoria to the grid, boosting overall supply by around one-third.
Written for “Data Centres Boom In Victoria” on 2026-09-17,
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The road into the Golden Plains Wind Farm is like any other surrounding the tiny Rokewood township in Victoria's south-west — until you reach the turbines.
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More than 200 stretch towards the clouds across 16,000 hectares of farmland, like a row of thin giants.
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"It's the biggest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere and injecting about 9 per cent of Victoria's annual energy demand," said TagEnergy managing director Andrew Riggs.
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Riggs → inject → demand
In the next few months, it will almost double in capacity, from 756 megawatts to 1.3 gigawatts — almost the equivalent of a coal-fired power station.
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Now that it's up and running, the demand is fierce — and increasingly, it's coming from one place.
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"We've got two large customers.
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One is Amazon, another is Equinix," Mr Riggs said.
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"They want to provide green energy for their services.
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Their customers demand it, and we're able to supply them through this project.
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"
Between them, the two data centres will hoover up more than 25 per cent of the energy here: about 352MW.
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A power-hungry industry
Data centres are expanding rapidly in Australia, and Melbourne is the fastest-growing market, with $6 billion in capital investment in the sector in the last year, according to the Victorian government.
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The first was built in 2012, and 50 of them are now operating in Victoria, concentrated around Melbourne's west.
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At capacity, they are permitted to draw up to 840MW from the grid, although Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) data indicates they currently consume about one-quarter of that.
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By 2030, their energy consumption in Victoria is set to quadruple.
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Ten data centres have been approved for construction, with a further eight under planning assessment.
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Now, in place of the cloud, it's AI that is driving demand and the consumption that comes with it.
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It says it operates like a landlord for tech companies and delivers the building, cooling and, critically, the energy to meet their requirements.
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"Some of our largest customers are big US hyperscalers, like your Microsoft and Amazon," said Sabooh Whitelaw, the company's utility and energy associate vice-president.
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Ms Whitelaw said the demand from tech companies to operate in Australia was "insatiable".
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demand → say → Australia
"We have a high degree of renewables, we have vast land, we have stable government, so we are generally seen as a very favourable location to have data centres," she said.
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The company says it consumes about 255MW of energy across Australia, and the total capacity it expects to draw from the grid by 2030 is 1.3GW, about the same as what the Golden Plains Wind Farm produces as a whole.
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So far, the red carpet has been rolled out to meet the demand.
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Over a week in September, Melbourne hosted the inaugural Data Centre Excellence Awards and an international expo, complete with robotic dogs and portable modular data centres.
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"We welcome this industry," Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Minister Anthony Carbines told the expo audience.
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"We welcome every company prepared to build here responsibly and sustainably," he said.
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Mr Carbines said data centres brought "an extraordinary amount of pressure landing on electricity grids, water systems and local communities in a very short period of time".
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"Engage communities early, keep them informed, and share the benefits, and they will make room for you," he said.
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That might be easier said than done.
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Growing opposition and an aging grid
Community angst is growing over the fast pace of development, with concerns centred around the vast amounts of energy and water required to power the biggest, hyperscale centres.
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Several local government areas across Melbourne have already implemented moratoria on new data centre developments, including the City of Maribyrnong, Hume and Brimbank.
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The Greens have called for a moratorium nationwide "until there are laws in place to properly regulate their impact in Australia including energy, water use, environment and communities".
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In August, the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council reached an agreement that data centres needed to bring new, firm, renewable generation online to match their own demand.
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All of this comes at a time when Victoria's aging coal-fired power stations are reaching the end of their lives.
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The latest projections from the Energy Market Operator indicate the state has no significant electricity supply buffer beyond 2029.
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"I think everybody now agrees that Yallourn is cactus and will not be sticking around past 2028," said Australian Industry Group's climate change and energy director Tennant Reed.
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"That's a big chunk of supply to replace.
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"If we don't get an adequate mix of new resources into the market that can meet demand, well, we can be pretty confident wholesale electricity prices will go up.
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And every sector working to decarbonise will now be competing with them for green energy.
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sector → work → energy
"We don't expect that the existing supply will cover our new demand," Ms Whitelaw said.
"
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We do think renewable generation and transmission projects all need to be coordinated together to bring on as much supply as we can so we don't end up with a deficit.
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…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia