How often will 276 diesel generators at an AI data center actually run? Members of the Tasmanian parliament put that question to Firmus on Tuesday 10 November, at an inquiry into AI data centres, and the answer was that they are meant for emergencies. The awkward part, ABC News reports, is that Firmus is at the same time appealing the council condition that limits the generators at its planned Long Reach site in northern Tasmania to exactly that.
What The Permit Allows
George Town Council approved the 288 MW facility on the former Gunns pulp mill site in the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone on 25 August, by six votes to one, W.Media reported at the time. The conditions let the backup sets run during an unplanned failure of the mains supply, for inspection, testing and maintenance, or in a genuine emergency. More than one generator may run at the same time for no more than 24 hours a year in total. Firmus also has to deliver an air quality assessment within 12 months of starting the relevant operations and a noise verification survey within 60 days of opening. The application had listed 128 generators instead of 276, so the bushfire and emergency management plan must be updated before construction.
Firmus called the use condition unreasonable and appealed, saying it would also stop generator use during periods of energy market stress. Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority has applied to join the case. In its submission the EPA said it would have assessed the project differently had it known the sets might run whenever that suited the operator commercially.
Emergency, But Defined By Whom
At the hearing Firmus energy manager Paul Grzinic said the generators are intended as backup and are not meant to run for commercial convenience. What the company wants, he said, is clarity on how wide the term emergency is. He would not go into the appeal while it is open. Acting chair Tabatha Badger of the Greens told him that promising emergency use while fighting an emergency-use condition would not make sense to Tasmanians. Co-chief executive Tim Rosenfield declined to name customers, citing security and confidentiality, and said the withdrawal of the planned stock market listing in October changes nothing in its growth plans.
Firmus already runs AI data centers in Melbourne and Singapore, is building at St Leonards near Launceston and is seeking approval for a third Tasmanian site at Wesley Vale, where it is also setting up a research facility to look at ways of depending less on backup diesel.
The Running Hours Decide The Rest
For anyone who builds or buys these plants, the dispute is about the one figure that shapes everything else. A set that only covers mains failures and monthly tests is a standby machine; a set that also runs whenever the market is tight is closer to a peaking plant, with a different engine rating class, different service intervals, more fuel on site and an emissions case that the regulator has to look at again. The cooling system and the noise treatment follow the same logic, because they are sized for the way the engine is expected to run. That is why it pays to settle the duty in writing before the generator order, not in a tribunal afterwards. Similar rules on running hours elsewhere are in our items on San Jose and Virginia.
