VIRIDIS Green Data Centres (“VIRIDIS”), Australia’s pre-eminent developer of Zone 4 edge data centres, has reached a major milestone for its planned data centre in Burnie, Tasmania.
The Viridis team, who worked closely with the landlord (Arcana Capital), were notified on Tuesday that pursuant to Section 51 and Section 57 of the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 and pursuant to Clause 6.8 of the Tasmanian Planning Scheme Burnie City Council approved a permit to establish a Storage Use (Data Centre) on the Site.
The permit was issued with no conditions, and no operational constraints, keeping VIRIDIS on track for its target go-live of the first half of 2027.
Overview of Proposed Tasmanian Data Centre
The proposed data centre in Tasmania is a Tier III, Zone 4 edge data centre to be developed within the existing commercial building in the Burnie CBD. It will be the only facility of its kind in North-West Tasmania, filling a sovereign infrastructure gap for regional government and industry. Specifications for the data centre will include:
- Security: Zone 2 hardened perimeter with independently certified Zone 4 modular PODs, capable of handling data classified up to Secret level under the Australian Government’s Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF)
- Resilience: Tier III design with full redundancy across power and cooling, capable of being maintained without taking systems offline
- Power: Approximately 1MW draw from the existing grid connection, well within the capacity of the dedicated transformer already serving the building
- Cooling: No water-consumption cooling plant, leveraging Burnie’s cool climate for significant free-air cooling year-round
- Microgrid: Staged clean-energy microgrid incorporating solar, battery storage and hydrogen clean-burn technology for long-duration backup power with near-zero emissions
- Clean Energy: Located within Tasmania’s near-100% renewable electricity network, providing a low-emissions energy foundation from day one
- Size: 1,215 square metres
- Community Benefit: 5 to 20 local construction jobs during fit-out and between 5 and 16 ongoing operational roles once live
The development is the second of VIRIDIS’ three Australian (along with Townsville and Sydney) data centre projects currently under planning or other approval processes, and it forms part of VIRIDIS’ strategy to target decentralised areas, where clients — particularly in defence and government — require ultra-high-security (Zone 4) data centres to be strategically located.
Michael Bull, Managing Director, VIRIDIS Green Data Centres said:
“The Burnie approval is a significant milestone for VIRIDIS and for the region. North-West Tasmania has not had access to this class of infrastructure before and we are focused on delivering a facility that serves the long-term needs of government, defence and industry in the region.”
Campbell Newman AO,Chairman & Managing Director, Arcana Capital said:
“We are delighted to be working with Viridis to deliver cutting edge technology to the north west coast of Tasmania whilst adding value for our investors. This project sees the repurposing of the old Advocate Newspaper print centre to a modern information technology asset for the 21st century. We greatly appreciate the support of the Burnie City Council and the community who have embraced this opportunity.”
Teeny Brumby, Mayor of Burnie City Council said:
“Our city is continuing to evolve, and it’s always pleasing to see new proponents taking an interest in Burnie as a place to invest. Projects like this demonstrate confidence in the future of our region and the potential of our city centre. Council welcomes development that contributes to the vitality of the CBD and we wish the proponents every success as they move forward with the next stages of the Project.”
Both VIRIDIS and Arcana Capital would like to thank the Burnie City Council for their co-operation and vision in granting this permit, and the parties are looking forward to building a long and prosperous business in the region, for the ultimate benefit of the community.