Plumpton mega-datacentre plan faces community backlash
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- Syncline Energy plans a 2.4GW mega-datacentre on a 350-hectare site in Plumpton, 30km north-west of Melbourne CBD, with four buildings on 140 hectares — roughly six times the size of Chadstone shopping centre — and construction won't start for at least two years.
- The proposed facility would consume more electricity than Loy Yang A, making it larger than any datacentre currently operating in Australia, with 30 already in operation in Victoria and another 30 in the pipeline per lobby group Data Centres Australia.
- Molly Walker, a conservationist living 250km away in the Grampians who first heard of the project on TikTok, started a petition that has amassed over 3,600 signatures calling for full environmental, cultural, social and infrastructure assessment.
- Dr Karen Austria, a local electrical engineer, says residents feel Melbourne's western suburbs have become 'a dumping ground' because the site sits within a government-protected green wedge near housing.
- Syncline managing director Phil Galloway says the company will consult neighbours for at least a year before filing a planning application, promising solar, wind, battery storage, local jobs and a community fund, and noting the site sits almost entirely under Melbourne airport's flight path, which restricts housing use.
- Federal Labor MPs Alice Jordan-Baird and Sam Rae released a joint statement saying 'the west cannot simply become the destination for infrastructure that places additional strain on resources while delivering little in return.'
- The federal government announced a new framework requiring large datacentres to underwrite new power supply and match their grid draw with new generation, while parliamentary inquiries into datacentres are underway at both federal and NSW levels.
Why it matters: The proposed 2.4GW Plumpton project — which would draw more electricity than Loy Yang A and sit inside a protected green wedge — tests whether Victoria will concentrate sovereign AI infrastructure in Melbourne's west against organised community pushback, with 3,600 petition signers and two Labor MPs already objecting before any planning application has been filed.
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