Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority wants a say in an appeal over how often an AI data centre at Bell Bay may run its diesel generators. In a submission dated 7 October and reported by ABC News on 10 October, the EPA board applied to join the case that Firmus Technologies brought before the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) against one of the conditions on its 288 MW project in the north of the state.
Condition 13
George Town Council approved the data centre in August with 15 conditions. The project has 276 diesel backup generators, and condition 13, as the ABC reported in September, lets them run only for an unscheduled mains failure, routine inspection, testing or maintenance, or a genuine emergency. Testing and maintenance are limited to weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. outside public holidays, testing more than one generator at a time is capped at 24 hours a year in total, every use has to be reported, and the generators may not supply electricity during normal operation.
Firmus lodged its appeal on 10 September and called the condition unreasonable. It wants to use the generators for limited support of the mains supply, to offset curtailment, to manage energy security and to keep the site reliable when the energy market is under stress. Asked how often it expects to run them, the company would not say, and it declined to comment on the October report as well.
Why the Regulator Objects
The EPA had decided earlier that the project needed no environmental assessment. Its board now says it was told the generators were for emergency use in a power failure - weekly exercise runs of under two hours, annual load tests and utility outages - and that the wider use sought in the appeal would likely have led to a different decision on assessment. In its view, enlarging the generators' role after approval undermines that determination and could let the company avoid processes it would otherwise have faced; it also warns of possible nuisance that could call for enforcement. Residents of Rowella, about a kilometre away across the river, are among the other appellants; the ABC counted five appeals in September.
According to the ABC, Firmus is negotiating with Hydro Tasmania for 444 MW for its Tasmanian centres. A state government spokesperson said projects should use resources responsibly and engage openly with communities. Greens MP Tabatha Badger pointed to Victoria, which she said is moving towards rules that keep diesel generators to backup use.
Standby or Something Else
The dispute turns on a line every generator permit draws, sometimes without saying so. A set installed for standby and a set that supports a constrained grid are different machines in the eyes of a regulator, even when the engine is the same. The second needs an emissions and noise case built on run hours nobody can fix in advance, and often a different rating from the engine maker (our note on standby, prime and continuous ratings explains why). Fuel storage, fuel quality over longer runs and the exhaust treatment all follow from that choice.
For anyone preparing an application the practical point is simple: describe the duty the generators are really meant for at the start. An approval granted for emergency use is hard to stretch afterwards, and at Bell Bay the regulator is now saying so in front of the tribunal.
Sources: ABC News (10 October 2026), ABC News (15 September 2026)