US company build $1.7B large-scale battery, data center in Australia

Private-equity firm Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners won approval to build a data center worth A$2.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in Australia, eventually including one of the nation’s largest utility-scale batteries.

Based in Houston, Quinbrook said it would build a campus for its Supernode project in Queensland that could house four “hyperscale” data centers. The company also plans to build renewable energy capacity and a 2,000 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS) for the campus.

Brain Restall, Senior Director at Quinbrook, said that adding large-scale battery storage and renewables to address grid stress, high power prices, and the decarbonization of power supply is a remarkable investment opportunity.

Data centers are considered power-hungry, and builders are attempting to make them less dependent on high carbon-emitting sources by using solar and wind energies.

The project received Foreign Investment Review Board and local planning approval and is similar to an 800-megawatt green data center campus Quinbrook launched in Texas.

Recently founded by Australians, Quinbrook has focused only on projects in the United States and Britain.

Following the recent election of a new labor government committed to expanding renewable energy to 82% of power supply from 30%, Quinbrook co-founder David Scaysbrook said he sees much more opportunity to invest in Australia.