Arabic version: هيئة حماية البيئة في تسمانيا تطعن في استئناف مولدات «فيرموس»

According to ABC News, Tasmania’s environmental watchdog is seeking to join an appeal involving Firmus Technologies after it learned the AI data-centre operator wanted to use hundreds of diesel generators more often than first disclosed. Earlier this year, George Town Council approved Firmus’s proposed 288-megawatt data centre in northern Tasmania after the Environmental Protection Authority determined an environmental assessment was not required.

The approval limited use of 276 on-site diesel generators to circumstances including emergencies and routine inspections. Firmus has appealed the condition through the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, saying it wants to use the generators for limited augmentation of mains electricity, to offset curtailment, manage energy security and maintain operational reliability during periods of energy-market stress.

In an October 7 submission seen by ABC News, the EPA board said it had originally been told the generators would be used only during power failures, scheduled weekly exercise runs of less than two hours, annual load tests and utility outages. It said the broader proposed use would likely have led it to make a different decision on whether to assess the project, and could change the environmental risk profile. The board said it would not comment on matters before TASCAT, while Firmus declined to comment.

A separate Firmus submission to the federal joint select committee on AI said renewable projects it commits to underwrite for its data centres are not necessarily located in Tasmania, but delivered into the National Electricity Market as a whole. Firmus has said it will build two megawatts of new renewable generation for every megawatt used across planned centres at Launceston, Long Reach and Wesley Vale. Hydro Tasmania said renewable projects being considered in its assessment of Firmus’s request for 444MW of power are all in Tasmania.