Project Ares would use about 1,038MW of gas power
Project Ares, a proposed data centre in remote Northern Territory, would use about 1,038MW of gas-fired generation at full build-out. That figure appears in the project’s application under the EPBC Act.
At that scale, the gas generation would more than double the Northern Territory’s current gas-fired generating capacity. The proposal says the site would run on off-grid gas and renewables.
On Wednesday 1 July 2026, Greenpeace Australia Pacific renewed its call for an urgent moratorium on the construction and approval of new data centres. The group cited emissions and environmental harm linked to Project Ares.
Solaye Snider on Project Ares
Solaye Snider, a campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said proposals such as Project Ares “should not be moving along while there are still zero binding regulations to limit the impacts of AI data centres on our communities and environment.”
Greenpeace says the project conflicts with the Federal Government’s approach to data centre energy use. Snider said the off-grid gas plan made “a mockery” of the government’s unenforceable expectations that data centres would cover their own power use with renewables.
A recent Greenpeace Australia Pacific report with independent expert Ketan Joshi, titled Energy Vampires: the AI data centres draining Australia, said the rollout of AI data centres in Australia was set to derail the renewable energy transition, entrench gas and turbocharge climate pollution.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace warned that communities could bear the cost of the sector’s rising energy demand. The group said hyperscale projects could lock in major new gas infrastructure while binding rules were still absent.
Snider also raised questions about fuel supply for the project, asking: “Could it come from fracking the Beetaloo? Communities deserve to have the full picture before this project is approved.”
Those concerns centre on where new gas for a 1,038MW power system would come from in remote Northern Territory. Greenpeace wants regulators and communities to know the full source of supply before any approval.
As a result, Greenpeace is pushing for a pause on both new approvals and new construction. The organisation wants the Australian Government to use that time to legislate regulations and safeguards for AI data centres.
In its 1 July 2026 statement, Greenpeace said the government was moving too slowly as AI data centre projects expanded. The group repeated its call for an urgent moratorium until binding protections were in place.
