Supernode facility
Brisbane has been picked as the destination that will play host to a new $2.5 billion ‘Supernode’ data storage project.
Touted as the "largest in the Southern Hemisphere" the 'green' data centre facility will be powered by renewables and battery storage featuring 800 megawatts capacity.
The project has been backed by specialist investment manager, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, which has secured a 30 hectare site at Brendale and has already obtained both Foreign Investment Review Board and local planning permissions from Moreton Bay Regional Council for a multi-tenant campus of up to four hyperscale data centres.
They will connect directly to the adjacent South Pine substation offering up to 800 MWs of power supply capacity with three separate high voltage connections.
The site at Brendale is only 30 kms from Brisbane CBD and will intersect the new Torus dark fibre data cable currently under construction which will directly connect Brisbane to the international sub-sea cable recently landed at Maroochydore from Guam.
“The Supernode is an innovative new project planning to bring large-scale storage facilities for both data and battery energy to the one site,” Acting premier and minister for state development Steven Miles said.
“This is one of the major new economy projects coming to Queensland thanks to the government’s strategic investment in digital technology infrastructure and renewable energy.
“We provided $15 million to support the Sunshine Coast Council in delivering Queensland’s first direct International Broadband Network Cable Landing Station and we are seeing the benefits of that investment.
“The digital technology industry can now leverage the speed of the Sunshine Coast’s new international undersea fibre optic connection for uses such as efficient, large-scale data storage.”
Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners Managing Partner, David Scaysbrook said the Supernode had the potential to be a $2.5 billion-plus investment and will be developed in stages on a 30-hectare site, with construction set to commence mid-2023 on the battery storage infrastructure.
The Supernode project is a key component of its APAC Green Data strategy which develops and constructs renewable energy solutions for green data centres.
“It also offers ample scope for powering our large-scale batteries with locally produced solar, wind and hydro sourced renewables which will also power the data centre campus as it grows,” he said.
Quinbrook plans to procure, self-develop and construct the renewables supply capacity needed by Supernode customers as their energy demands grow.
Quinbrook has also lodged a ‘code assessable’ planning application for a 2,000 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (‘BESS’) to be co-located within the Supernode precinct, creating a ‘first of a kind’ project offering an innovative solution to the critical stability issues facing the Queensland power grid.
The planned hyperscale data storage and BESS infrastructure will represent an estimated capital investment of up to $2.5 billion when fully constructed, Quinbrook said.
CBRE has been appointed to manage customer engagement for Supernode.
“Supernode is the latest example of our strategy to make impactful and ‘hard to repeat’ investments that help decarbonise energy intensive data center operations using renewable power solutions,” Scaysbrook said.
“I am particularly pleased that Quinbrook’s own team conceived this unique opportunity here in Queensland and has undertaken all the project development work to get us to this exciting launch stage.
“With Supernode we will help attract new digital industries to come and flourish here and prosper sustainably by using locally produced, low cost, carbon-free renewable power and excellent data connectivity."
