The National AI Plan has outlined Australia’s ambitions to become a regional power for data centre hosting, which has prompted concerns about how data centres and their infrastructure will connect to the nation’s energy grid.
Monash Climate Communication Hub invites journalists and media professionals to join a rapid-response briefing on what these developments mean for Australia’s energy systems.
The online briefings will connect journalists directly with leading researchers and subject-matter experts, and are designed to support accurate, timely and impactful reporting on climate and energy.
Date: Tuesday 31 March 2026
Time: 12pm (AEST)
Location: Zoom (link will be sent via calendar invitation)
Hear from Professor Elizabeth Lester - Director, Monash Climate Communication Hub:
“Data centres aren’t new but their scale and visibility are. As demand for AI accelerates, these energy-intensive facilities are becoming a significant new source of electricity demand. That brings technical challenges for how we build and manage generation, transmission and storage, but also broader questions about social licence: who benefits, who bears the cost, and how these developments are integrated into the grid. Do the ‘expectations' released under Australia's National AI Plan go far enough to support, rather than complicate, Australia’s transition to a cleaner, more resilient energy system?”
The briefing session will explore:
- Whether rapid growth in data centres and AI infrastructure could accelerate or slow
- Australia's energy transition, and what the National AI Plan means for the pace of change
- How the government's new expectations framework for AI infrastructure will work in practice and what it signals about the role data centres should play in Australia's energy system
- What large new electricity loads from hyperscale data centres mean for the grid including impacts on system reliability
- Who should pay for the infrastructure required to support these development and whether costs will or should flow through to household energy bills
- Whether data centres could help support the grid, for example through demand flexibility, load management or aligning electricity use with renewable generation
- The broader environmental footprint of data centres, including energy use, emissions and water demand, and how these impacts should be managed
- Community engagement with and attitudes towards data centres in Australia
More information about the Rapid Response Briefings
Climate and energy stories increasingly dominate the news cycle, with journalists often required to report quickly on complex, evolving issues. These briefings are designed to cut through that complexity, providing clear, evidence-based insights you can use in real time.
The series will provide:
- Rapid, expert-led explanations of emerging climate and energy developments
- Clear context to support breaking news coverage
- Practical guidance for translating science into accessible reporting
- Opportunities to ask questions and engage directly with researchers.
These sessions draw on the Hub’s expertise in climate communication and its long-standing partnerships with media organisations to support journalists in climate and energy communications.
Whether you’re covering policy shifts, finance or the energy transition, these briefings are designed to help you navigate the story and tell it well.
For more Monash media stories visit our news & events site: monash.edu/news
For any other topics on which you may be seeking expert comment, contact the Monash University Media Unit on +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
