daily · Clean Energy

Gingerah Energy unveils A$40 billion off-grid Kimberley data centre powered by 6.7 GW of solar and wind

Gingerah Energy has referred Project Meridien to Australia's federal EPBC process: a 1 GW data centre south of Broome backed by 5.2 GW of solar, 1.5 GW of wind, a 5 GWh battery and 1.5 GW of gas, with renewables supplying 85 percent of energy needs. Staged from 48 MW to full capacity by 2038, the project could cost more than A$40 billion.

By Greener Numbers Editorial Team · Published October 22, 2026 · Updated 10/22/2026

Gingerah Energy has referred Project Meridien to the Australian federal government under the EPBC process, revealing plans for an off-grid data centre complex in Western Australia's Kimberley region that pairs a 1 gigawatt computing load with 5.2 gigawatts of solar, 1.5 gigawatts of wind, a 5 gigawatt-hour battery and a 1.5 gigawatt gas power station, RenewEconomy reported on October 22, 2026.

The privately-owned company said the total cost of the project, including the data centres, could come to more than A$40 billion. The development is slated for a 27,520-hectare site about 100 kilometres south of Broome on lands owned by the Karajarri people, where Gingerah holds an Indigenous Land Use Agreement.

The staged buildout would start with 48 megawatts of data centre IT load, scaling through 240 megawatts and 620 megawatts to the full 1,000 megawatts, with construction of the first two stages expected to begin from 2029 and full capacity targeted by 2038.

Chief executive Jop van Hattum said the wind and solar components are designed to supply about 85 percent of the data centre's energy needs, including cooling, with the gas station settling the remaining 15 percent. He noted the facility could in theory run on the gas plant alone but that this would 'soak up most of the gas in Western Australia.'

To link the remote site to international networks, the plan includes a 400-kilometre fibre optic connection to the subsea cable at Port Hedland that runs to Singapore, costed at about A$80 million, a fraction of the generation and computing spend.

The EPBC referral will determine whether the project is a controlled action requiring federal environmental assessment, the first formal regulatory gate for a proposal that would rank among the largest combined renewable generation, storage and computing developments announced globally.

Official source: reneweconomy.com.au ↗