An Australian data center operator filed an appeal against restrictions on private generator use, citing unreasonable operational limits.

AI data centre company Firmus Technologies is appealing against what it calls “unreasonable” council conditions that limit its use of 276 diesel generators at its recently approved Bell Bay data centre in northern Tasmania. In August, the George Town Council green-lit the 288-megawatt facility to be constructed approximately 15 kilometres south of George Town. However, the approval came with 15 conditions, including strict restrictions on generator operation.

Condition 13 stipulates that the backup diesel generators may only run during unscheduled failures or interruptions to the mains electricity supply, during routine inspection, testing, or maintenance, or in response to a genuine emergency. Routine testing must occur exclusively between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. The condition explicitly states that: “The backup diesel generators must not be operated to provide electricity during normal operations, or to augment the mains electricity supply.” Furthermore, simultaneous routine inspections and testing of more than one generator cannot exceed a total of 24 hours across any calendar year. The council also mandates strict usage windows and requires detailed reporting whenever the generators are activated.

On September 10, Firmus filed an appeal with the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) seeking to vary the condition. In documents reviewed by the ABC, the company labelled the council’s rule “unreasonable,” arguing it would prevent generator use during periods of “energy market stress.” The application states that the restriction “...it restricts the operation of the approved backup diesel generators in a manner that fails to adequately recognise both the operational requirements of the facility, including the need to maintain operational efficiency and a secure and reliable electricity supply, and the benefits of their limited use during periods of electricity supply curtailment, network constraints or energy market stress.” Firmus has requested that the council amend the conditions to “allow the operation of the backup diesel generators for limited augmentation of the mains electricity supply to offset curtailment, manage energy security and maintain operational reliability during periods of energy market stress.” When asked how frequently the company anticipates using the generators, Firmus declined to comment, stating it “won't be commenting at this time.”

Beyond the generator restrictions, the council imposed several other conditions, including an updated bushfire hazard and emergency management strategy, a prohibition on vegetation clearing during eagle season, and mandatory air and noise quality assessments. Before commencing construction, Firmus must submit a revised bushfire and emergency management plan after initially reporting the site would house 128 generators rather than the confirmed 276. Once operational, the Bell Bay data centre will become Tasmania’s single largest consumer of electricity.

The project has drawn strong local resistance, with an online petition collecting over 6,000 signatures and dozens of residents protesting outside the council chambers ahead of the vote. To date, five appeals have been lodged with TASCAT regarding the data centre, including Firmus’s own. Among them are appeals from residents of Rowella, a riverside community in the West Tamar local government area located roughly one kilometre from the site. Rowella resident Nicholla Thompson, who moved to the area six years ago seeking a quiet, nature-surrounded lifestyle, said the company’s appeal indicates plans to run the generators far more frequently than originally disclosed. “Everything went Firmus's way, bar one thing, and that was their diesel generators. That's what they're appealing for, so that they can pretty much run them all the time,” Thompson said. Alongside four other Rowella residents, including Anne-Marie Bastian, she has appealed the council’s decision.

The residents’ objections centre on light and noise pollution, impacts on quality of life, and potential damage to the local tourism industry, particularly given nearby wedding venues. “We don’t want generators running all the time,” Thompson said. “We have award-winning vineyards sitting over there. We don’t want diesel dust over the top of everything. I moved here for health reasons. I don’t want to be breathing bad air again.” Energy security was also cited as a concern among opponents. Thompson, who recently protested outside the council chambers, said she was “flabbergasted” to discover Firmus’s appeal shortly after filing her own. “We’re only a few small local farms trying to defend ourselves and this big company who has all the resources in the world going up against us,” she said. “We need to slow things down and really have a good look before we just start slapping [data centres] up anywhere.”

As the appeals proceed, state electricity supplier Hydro Tasmania has indicated it expects to decide by year-end whether to approve Firmus’s request for 450 megawatts of power across its three proposed facilities—a capacity equivalent to up to 30 per cent of Tasmania’s current energy consumption. In addition to the newly approved Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone site, Firmus is currently constructing a 104-megawatt facility outside Launceston and has submitted a development application for a 52-megawatt centre in Wesley Vale, east of Devonport.