Firmus tells Tasmanian inquiry diesel generators are for emergencies only

Firmus operational AI data centres in Melbourne and Singapore and is planning more in Tasmania, South Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia. The company is building an AI data centre in the Launceston suburb of St Leonards, has approval for another at Long Reach in northern Tasmania, and is seeking approval for a third at Wesley Vale in the north-west.

When Firmus gained planning approval for its Long Reach facility, George Town Council imposed a condition that the 276 backup diesel generators could only be used during emergencies, maintenance and testing, following community concerns about environmental and noise impacts. Firmus appealed the condition, calling it "unreasonable" and stating it would prevent it from using generators during periods of "energy market stress". Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority has since sought to join the appeal, stating in its submission that it would have assessed the proposal differently had it known the generators would be used "potentially whenever it is commercially convenient for the operator".

Appearing before the inquiry on Tuesday, Firmus energy manager Paul Grzinic told MPs the company's intent was for the generators to be "backup generation" used only in an emergency. "They are not intended — as others have claimed — for us to run these when commercially convenient, or any other means other than in an emergency situation," Grzinic said.

Greens MP and acting inquiry chair Tabatha Badger pressed the issue, noting the contradiction between the company's stated position and its appeal of the council condition. "You say it's only for emergency use — that's what the condition was imposed by the council — and yet you're appealing that," she said. "So you can understand for Tasmanians listening, that's not going to add up and make a whole lot of sense."

Grzinic said he could not speak in detail about the appeal while it was ongoing. "We're just seeking, effectively, clarification of — it's quite broad, that definition of emergency — so we're just seeking clarification," he said.

Firmus is setting up a research and development facility at its Wesley Vale site to investigate ways to reduce reliance on backup diesel generators.

Co-chief executive and co-founder Tim Rosenfield declined to reveal the company's customers when asked by Ms Badger. “Like any commercial data centre developer, if you look at some of our listed peers in Australia, it's not normal practice to disclose who your customers are at any particular location,” he said, adding that disclosure could be for security or contractual confidentiality reasons. The company has previously said it has contracted the Launceston and Wesley Vale facilities to customers, while Long Reach was under option to a customer.

Last month, Firmus withdrew its highly-anticipated initial public offering after lacklustre investor interest. Mr Rosenfield told the inquiry the cancelled float did not change the company's plans. "We have extremely supportive shareholders who are backing us to grow exactly the same way we've always planned to grow," he said. "An IPO is just a means to a transaction, we decided not to pursue that particular transaction but that doesn't change our growth plans — not one bit."

The inquiry will continue hearings with stakeholders about AI data centres in Tasmania before making recommendations to the government.