Politics · Australia · 2 days ago
Tasmanian EPA seeks to join appeal over data centre generators
Firmus Technologies is building a 288-megawatt AI data centre in George Town, in northern Tasmania.
The town council approved the project earlier this year, after the state Environmental Protection Authority decided it did not need an environmental assessment.
The approval allows the site's 276 diesel generators to run only at limited times, such as during emergencies or routine tests.
Firmus has appealed that restriction, saying it wants to use the generators at times to support the electricity supply and maintain reliable operations.
The EPA says it understood the generators would be used mainly during power failures, and that the wider use Firmus now seeks could have changed its decision about assessing the project.
It has asked to join the appeal before the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, warning that the generators' environmental risks may not have been properly assessed.
The tribunal is considering Firmus's appeal.
Tasmania’s Environmental Protection Authority has asked a tribunal to hear its concerns about Firmus Technologies’ plan to use data centre diesel generators more often than it originally disclosed.
The EPA says it was told the 276 generators would be used for emergencies and limited testing, and that the wider proposed use could have changed its decision not to require an environmental assessment.
Firmus is appealing a condition that limits generator use at its approved 288-megawatt data centre in George Town.
The company says it wants to use the generators at times to support the mains electricity supply, manage energy security and maintain reliability during energy market stress.
The EPA says wider use could change the project’s environmental risk profile and lead to environmental harm.
- Who
- Tasmania’s EPA and Firmus Technologies.
- What
- The EPA has applied to join Firmus’s tribunal appeal over limits on the use of 276 diesel generators at its data centre.
- When
- The George Town Council approved the project earlier in 2026. The EPA board made its submission on October 7.
- Where
- George Town, in northern Tasmania.
- Why
- Firmus is seeking wider use of the generators, while the EPA says it was not told of that proposed use when it decided the project did not need an environmental assessment.
Tasmania’s EPA
Firmus Technologies
Generator use
Tasmania’s EPA
The EPA says it was told the generators would be used for emergencies and limited testing.
Firmus Technologies
Firmus wants limited use to support the mains supply, manage energy security and maintain reliability during energy market stress.
Environmental assessment
Tasmania’s EPA
The EPA says wider use could have changed its decision about whether to assess the proposal and could create environmental risks that were not properly assessed.
Firmus Technologies
Firmus is appealing the condition restricting generator use.
That variation, if part of the original proposal, would likely have resulted in the Board making a different decision in relation to whether to assess the proposal
Seeking to enlarge the use of the diesel generators post-approval undermines the Board's determination and changes the environmental risk profile posed by the activity.
for limited augmentation of the mains electricity supply to offset curtailment, manage energy security and maintain operational reliability during periods of energy market stress
George Town Council approved Firmus’s proposal to build a 288-megawatt data centre, with limits on use of its 276 diesel generators.
The EPA board submitted an application to join Firmus’s appeal, saying the proposed generator use differed from what it had originally been told.
- Project capacity
- 288 megawatts
- On-site generators
- 276 diesel generators
- Project location
- George Town, northern Tasmania
- EPA submission
- October 7
- Tribunal
- Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT)
Sources
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