Anthony Albanese has been clear that he wants a set of national standards to ensure datacentre growth accelerates Australia’s push to renewables and keeps a lid on power prices. At the centre of his desired policies was a “BYO power” requirement – a condition that all new datacentres would be powered by 100% renewable electricity.

But last week these aims collided with the Queensland and Northern Territory governments’ desire to rely on their state-owned gas and coal power stations to power datacentres.

As a result, we got a national cabinet communique that was carefully worded to allow every first minister to claim a win, but little clarity about what rules would apply.

On Friday, the energy minister, Chris Bowen, reiterated the federal government’s intent to legislate binding national standards for datacentres across the country which will require them to use 100% renewables, backed by firming – which can be gas.

The potential for a carve-out is still there, with Bowen saying the federal government would consider concessions – but only if state-owned generation can provide a cheaper power mix.

At first glance, this looks unlikely. Electricity costs are about 10% of total expenditure for........

© The Guardian