Millions parked in Darwin’s data centre pipeline as rollout awaits

Bit by bit, Darwin is attracting the interest of data centre and cable project developers world wide. Find out why.

The worldwide demand for data storage capacity is driving the development of hundreds-of-millions of dollars worth of data centre and cable projects in the Northern Territory.

NEXTDC’s application to develop an $80m data centre on the fringes of the Darwin CBD is the first of at least five new data centre or high-speed network projects planned for the Territory between now and 2027.

Meanwhile, the activation of Vocus’ 1000km, $100m Port Hedland to Darwin cable linking Darwin with Jakarta and Singapore was another digital milestone for the Territory.

And Australian Computer Society NT branch chairman Damien Charles says worldwide demand for data storage is growing as governments and businesses continue to digitise.

Vocus Darwin’s Port Hedland-Darwin cable rollout was completed in July 2023

Speed, he says, is “everything” with data – and distance affects speed.

The Territory’s proximity to Asia means Darwin can be accessed before anywhere else in Australia.

Mr Charles said power supply and land availability were important for data centre development, while 1 to 2 per cent of the world’s power consumption was used in operating and cooling data centres.

In overloaded power networks like Singapore, data centre power consumption could be even higher which has led to decentralisation of data centres to spread the load away from overburdened power grids.

“Being close to Asia means that data in Darwin can more quickly be accessed than anywhere else in Australia,” he said.

“Milliseconds might not seem like much but when you are using the amount of data and computations occurring it makes a big difference.”

Australian Computer Society NT chairman Damien Charles

The NT government also understands the value of the Territory’s location for future data developments.

“Darwin is located within 50 milliseconds from more than 500 million people,” a government spokeswoman said.

“New subsea cables will allow for increased speed and capacity to key locations, including Singapore, Indonesia and the United States.

“A diversity of cables and routes provides increased resilience and security.

“A secure, stable location for digital and data, tech or telecommunication will enable proponents to stay and grow.”

Construction on DCI Data Centre’s $80m DRW01 project at Wishart is expected to begin early next year with the Land Development Corporation assessing applications for civil works after a tender process.

Hawaiki Nui’s planned Pacific cable connecting Darwin with Singapore and Brisbane, then on to Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand is being developed with completion now forecast for 2027.

DCI Data Centers has secured 2.7ha in Wishart to build a data centre to be called DRW01. Picture: Supplied

The Northern Territory is still being factored into HyperOne’s $1.5bn national digital infrastructure rollout, which is currently focused on the east coast, then Melbourne to Perth. And construction of the Territory’s 2200km high-speed cable connection is expected to begin next financial year.

In addition, Inligo Network is hoping to make a final investment decision on its $700m subsea fibre optical cable system in the final quarter of this year.

The planned cable will link Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor, Australia and the west coast of the United States with Guam via connections in Japan.

The company has applied to lease Territory government Crown land at Conacher Street in Fannie Bay to construct a cable landing station.

Inligo’s ACC-1 Singapore to Darwin subsea cable is due to be completed by the end of 2026 and the company’s Unite cable, connecting into ACC-1 and going from Darwin to Adelaide, is planned for completion at a similar time.

The Computer Society’s Damien Charles said data centres were an economic opportunity for the NT.

“The opportunity presented by more fast speed links, with increased redundancy, to the NT from the rest of Australia and more importantly into Asia, helps Darwin became an ideal location for significant data centre growth,” he said.

“This will provide increased commercial opportunities and development of our digital workforce in the NT, with more high-end tech jobs just to service and maintain the data centres as well as the opportunity to work with a wide range of businesses across Asia that utilise the data centre.”