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Power-hungry data centres scrambling to find enoughelectricity to meet demand

story by businessreporter Samuel Yang

Data centres are already big power users in Australia.

They need significant amounts of electricity to run high-intensitycomputing and cooling systems.

Justone large data centre can consume the same amount of energy required to power50,000 homes.

Morgan Stanley estimates that data centres are currently using 5 percent (1,050 MW) of the electricity on Australia's power grid and that isexpected to grow to 8 per cent (2,500 MW) by 2030.

Some estimates even suggest they could require up to 15 per cent of thepower on the grid by then.

The Australian Energy Market Operator's latest Integrated Systems Plananticipates overall electricity consumption from the grid to nearly double by2050.

The director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Bruce Mountain, saidAustralia was not well placed to cope with that increasing demand.

"We are now hitting the difficult stages of the energytransition," Professor Mountain told The Business.