Latrobe Council approves Firmus's 26MW AI facility at Wesley Vale

Latrobe Council has approved Firmus’s plan to convert an existing warehouse at the former Wesley Vale pulp mill into a 26-megawatt AI research and development facility, a decision signed off by council staff, without a vote by councillors, that is now drawing criticism over how well the planning scheme can assess fast-moving AI infrastructure proposals, ABC News reported on Wednesday.

Why it matters

The general manager formalised the approval, with no public advertising and no vote put to the elected council, converting an existing warehouse at the north-west Tasmania site into computing and research space. Firmus says the facility will let engineers test how AI computing hardware responds to grid conditions and how batteries could cut reliance on diesel generators. Outgoing Latrobe Mayor Peter Freshney said the scheme used to assess the application does not allow a rigorous, robust look at emerging-technology development applications like this one, and that the process does seem rushed. That is a live tension for any Tasmanian council now facing data centre and AI infrastructure applications under planning rules not built for them, and it follows our earlier coverage of the transparency fight over Firmus’s unsolicited proposal and community benefit fund.

Community questions about the project’s footprint, power supply and diesel generator use were put to the council at its October meeting, according to unconfirmed minutes reported by the ABC, and one local resident said she felt locked out by the process. Jonathan Levee, Firmus co-founder and principal engineer for research and development, said: “Our Wesley Vale facility will allow Tasmanian engineers to test novel operating strategies for AI infrastructure.” Planning and Housing Minister Kerry Vincent, asked about the process, said it is appropriate for developers to rely on the planning system when deciding where to invest, and that the system should not be politicised; he said major AI developments still need to deliver for the local community, pointing to a draft statement of expectations for data centres and AI infrastructure the government has released.

The numbers

The approved facility carries a 26MW capacity for AI computing and research. Firmus expects about 70 construction jobs during the build and 20 ongoing roles once the site is operating. Annual cooling water use is estimated at roughly 224,000 litres, a figure the company says is subject to final design and operating conditions, with that water to come primarily from rainwater collected on site. Firmus says it intends to use dry cooling for most of the year. Construction is set to run seven days a week, with reduced hours on weekends.

What’s next

The approval covers only the research and development conversion of the existing warehouse, not the separate 26MW AI data centre Firmus still wants to build on the same Wesley Vale site. For that data centre, Latrobe Council has asked the Tasmanian government to assess it as a major project. For developers and builders elsewhere in Tasmania, Freshney’s comments point to a planning scheme under pressure, with councils weighing emerging-technology applications against rules designed for conventional development, while the state’s draft statement of expectations for data centres suggests more formal guardrails may follow before the next wave of AI infrastructure proposals lands.

The Australian Developer