Hitachi Energy is proud to be the Knowledge Partner for the Energy Needs of Data Centres Australia conference, supporting the industry at a pivotal moment of transformation.
As Australia experiences unprecedented growth in digital infrastructure, the conversation is increasingly centred on how to power scalable, sustainable, and resilient data centres. Hitachi Energy brings deep expertise in electrification, grid integration, and energy innovation to help address these challenges.
Energy as the defining constraint
Australia is experiencing one of the fastest-growing data centre expansions globally, driven by AI, cloud adoption, and hyperscale investment. Power availability is now the primary bottleneck to growth, with rising pressure on grids.
Hitachi Energy experts will join industry decision-makers, economists and regulators to discuss the pressing questions, from balancing speed, scale, sustainability, and geographic concentration of the data centre pipeline, to solving the grid bottleneck, focusing on interconnection and collaboration between data centre developers, utilities, and energy providers.
Agenda
- Australia’s emergence as a hyperscale data centre market
- National electricity demand outlook driven by data centres and AI
- Strategic implications for infrastructure planning and investment
- Addressing reliability, scalability and sustainability objectives
· Projected growth in electricity demand, including AEMO’s forecasts for 2030 and trajectory to 2050
· Preparing the infrastructure for hyperscale and AI-driven loads, considering 24/7 intensity, clustering, and ramp-rate requirements
· Integrating energy supply options such as renewables, firming capacity, and gas
· Considering or mitigating phantom demand and forecasting uncertainties
· Balancing speed, scale, sustainability, and geographic concentration of the data centre pipeline
· Transmission and distribution network considerations
· Project pipelines, grid connection timelines, and queue management
· System requirements and technical standards for large loads above 30 MW
· Managing different developer needs - centralised hyperscale versus distributed and edge models
Collaboration between data centre developers, utilities, and energy providers