Just a day after the Firmus IPO flop, the company appears to have backflipped on energy promises to Tasmanians. The ABC have revealed Firmus are not necessarily looking at investing in new renewable energy in the state to compensate for their massive electricity use.
It appears that Firmus may have once again led Tasmanians up the AI-generated garden path. They initially promised new renewables ‘on island’, but are now looking at renewable generation elsewhere.
The promise remains on the company’s website, stating, ‘Firmus is also supporting new renewable energy projects in Tasmania to offset the site’s electricity use over time.’ How hard is it to generate a straight story?
Neither the State or Federal Government have any binding obligations on AI data centre proponents full stop, let alone in relation to renewable energy supply. Both governments have draft statement of expectations under consideration, but these will not protect communities in the interim.
Tasmania has a unique state-owned renewable energy source, and we should not be gifting 30% of that to a company which seems to be taking Tasmanians for a ride. What’s it going to mean for Tasmanians energy prices?
For months the Greens have been asking the Liberal Government why they are so confident in Firmus and their claims they’d generate the renewable energy needed in Tasmania, but we’ve been unable to get any answers. The Greens are calling for all decisions on energy allocation to Firmus to be paused until Tasmanians have answers from the company and the Liberal Government.
The Tasmanian Parliamentary inquiry into AI data centres now has an extraordinarily heavy obligation to scrutinise the chaotic past decisions of this Liberal Government in relation to backing Firmus and hiding the details of other large-scale proponents coming to Tasmania. This is essential in making recommendations for this new industry moving forward in our state.
With the various inquiries and legislative work being done at multiple levels of government, we do not want to see proponents rushing to set up in Tasmania and disadvantaging or misleading our communities. This is why the Greens pushed for a moratorium.
The Liberals must see that Hydro Tasmania does not provide any power to Firmus until Tasmanians have clear answers about this companies’ future here, and there are clear, binding requirements for all AI data centre proponents in place.
