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Arthur T Knackerbracket [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/23/asia_tech_news_roundup/ [theregister.com]

Australia's government on Monday announced a set of datacenter "expectations" to guide would-be bit barn builders who contemplate breaking ground down under.

The expectations strongly suggest that datacenter builders create their own electricity generation capacity, and pay for energy transmission and infrastructure costs. "Energy-intensive data centre proposals not closely aligned with the expectations will not be prioritised by Commonwealth regulatory assessments," states the formal expectations document.

The expectations also call on datacenter operators to prioritise Australia's national interest, use water sustainably and responsibly, invest in local skills and jobs, and do all that while strengthening the nation's "research, innovation and local capability."

Industry lobby group the Tech Council of Australia welcomed the expectations, as did the Electrical Trades Union.

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