AI data centre company cold calling about buying land, inquiry told

Consultants for an AI data centre company have been cold-calling residents in north-west Tasmania, wanting to buy their land, the Greens say.

At a state parliamentary energy committee hearing today, Greens MP Vica Bayley asked the acting coordinator-general whether an AI data centre was proposed for Nook.

"We've been contacted this week by locals in Nook, near Sheffield," Mr Bayley said.

"They've been contacted by a Sydney consultancy firm wanting to purchase, my understanding is, agricultural land adjacent to the substation there, recently upgraded because it's part of the north-west transmission line, and allegedly for a large data centre."

Acting Coordinator-General Dennis Hendriks said there was "probably not a lot I can say about that".

"We are aware that there is a proposal in the north-west that is moving forward," he told the committee.

"It's at an early stage of development; we've made some introductions to the planning authority."

Proposals for six new data centres were revealed in Tasmanian parliament last month, though the government did not disclose the names of the proponents.

Mr Hendriks confirmed the proposal referred to by Mr Bayley was project B — a 200–300 megawatt data centre in the feasibility stage in the north-west.

Mr Bayley questioned the appropriateness of locals finding out about the proposal from a "Sydney consultancy firm".

Mr Hendricks said the office only had a "very limited amount of information" about the project.

He took a question on notice about identifying the proponent to the committee.

Government says no final site confirmed

Mr Bayley asked Minister for Business, Resources and Industry Felix Ellis if agricultural land should be used for AI data centres.

"There's a statutory planning process and environmental regulation and legislation," Mr Ellis replied.

"All proponents would be required to work through those processes in the usual way."

A government spokesperson said it would continue engaging with the proponent.

"This proposal was included in information previously tabled in parliament," they said.

"We understand it remains under consideration by the proponent, and no final site has been confirmed.

"We encourage the proponent to engage early and openly with the local community."

AI data centre company Firmus Technologies has previously said it was not behind any of the six confidential new proposals. 

Firmus already has three data centre projects underway in Tasmania — one under construction in Launceston, another approved for construction at Long Reach in the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone, and another waiting for approval at Wesley Vale, in the state's north-west.

'Going to cause huge tension with their neighbours'

Wade Rockliff, a farmer in Sheffield, has heard rumblings of consultants asking to buy farmland in the area for AI data centres.

"I think they're offering way more than the land's worth," he said.

"The people that they're asking, it's probably life changing for them.

"Some of them are probably generational families in the community and it's going to cause huge tension with their neighbours because if they build some monstrosity — they're talking bigger than the one that's going in at Bell Bay … a massive data centre — everyone's properties around it are going to devalue."

Mr Rockliff does not believe "data centres are going to employ that many locals once they've been built".

"And when you look at the ethos of a data centre, it's about replacing jobs."