Cattle & Coal or Green & Gold?

Australia is standing at a pivotal crossroads. In this opinion piece Simon Currie, Co-Founder and Chief Projects Officer of Energy Estate and Energy Estate Digital, considers how the choices we make will define whether our future is stuck in the past or boldly charging into a new era of innovation and prosperity.

Will we cling to the legacy of cattle and coal, or seize the golden opportunity to lead in the AI-powered, green economy?

What does Australia’s economic future look like?

Once again Australia is a crossroads. Over the last two weeks first the Nationals and then the Liberals have walked back from their commitment to Net Zero.

Let’s not beat around the bush. The reason for walking back on Net Zero has got much more to do with “Drill Baby Drill” than it has to do with renewable energy putting upwards pressure on power prices.
I am all ears if anyone can show me where new coal, gas or nuclear generation is actually reducing the energy prices for consumers.    Labor has meanwhile responded with the Solar Sharer program – encouraging utilities to offer 3 hours of free power to households with rooftop solar. 

But the big question for Australia is what does the future look like?    Are we going to double down on cattle and coal? Do we take a different path where we lean into the growth of the AI Economy and harness all our resources to help power and feed the world.

Energy Estate is a proud Australian SME.

Energy Estate is a proud Australian SME. We develop large and ambitious energy and infrastructure projects. We don’t try to do this by ourselves but we partner – with local and State governments, with other local SMEs and large corporates and with strategic international partners. We work in the regions not the cities and focus on industrial hubs like North and Central Queensland, the Hunter and Illawarra, Gippsland and Portland, Northern Tasmania, the Spencer Gulf and WA’s Mid-West.  

We believe that Australia has a gilt-edged opportunity to break the commodity cycle and support industries which will bring enduring prosperity.  No investor can ignore the impact of the AI Economy.  

I am old enough to have lived through the Dotcom boom and that was wild.  This doesn’t just feel different - it is different. The AI Economy is having an immediate and direct impact on so many other industries – from energy and water; to agriculture and health; and defence and security.  It is literally sweeping the globe – helped largely by the ubiquity of smartphones. 

Australia is currently the 2nd or 3rd largest market in the world for data center development    

Australia is currently the 2nd or 3rd largest market in the world for data center development (according to the latest forecasts from Knight Frank and CBRE) and we only have 27 million people.  We are fast becoming a major hub for AI data center development, and the traditional hubs of Sydney and Melbourne are buckling under the strain.

The AI Economy needs more than satellites to deliver on its promise.  In order to become an AI superpower Australia needs more subsea data cable connections to near and far markets. The good news is that the subsea data cable industry has been delivering cables for decades and is ready to ramp up to meet the increasing demand.

Sub-sea data cable connections - ambitious, global, affordable and relatively quick 

Energy Estate Digital is developing new subsea data cable connections from California to regions on the East Coast of Australia which have access to abundant renewable energy resources, water and land. The cables will connect places like Townsville, Gladstone, Newcastle and Wonthaggi with the AI-demand hubs in California.  

We have started development of IndoMaris, a new cable which will connect India with renewable energy resource rich regions of Australia and Oman. 

We have even kicked off development of a new cable system in the Atlantic, which is designed to take pressure off key European digital hubs like Dublin by connecting them with resource rich regions on both sides of the ocean.  

This may seem awfully ambitious but in reality developing new subsea data cable systems is technically feasible, affordable and relatively quick (especially when compared to developing electricity generation and transmission infrastructure in the NEM).

Energy Estate Digital sub-sea data cable development

Our future needs to be much more diversified 

Cattle and coal have bought prosperity to our regions for generations but our future needs to be much more diversified. 

We can be a critical minerals superpower, but not by sending unprocessed dirt to other locations. By harnessing our abundant renewable energy resources we can help build the resilient supply chains that our trading partners want to see.  

Our renewable energy resources can help to power AI factories in the regions located in energy and infrastructure precincts. These precincts will support existing energy intensive industries like aluminium and refining and bring new industries to Australia including green steel and iron, advanced manufacturing, electrification of transport and renewable fuels. 

A future which is green and gold and grounded upon regional infrastructure partnerships built on the principles of co-design, co-governance and co-ownership.