A feasibility assessment is under way to potentially build Hunter's third data centre in Lake Macquarie.
Origin Energy chief executive Frank Calabria recently revealed at the Australian Energy Council conference in Sydney that the company was investigating the potential construction of a data centre at their Eraring coal-fired power station.
"There's a lot of work going on in that space right now," Mr Calabria told industry news site The Energy.
"We've still got the Eraring batteries to come on and some at our Mortlake power station in Victoria, and they're all tracking ahead of schedule."
Mr Calabria also said that Origin was exploring possible partnerships for an Eraring data centre.
In a statement to the Newcastle Herald, a spokesperson for Origin said, "Origin is currently undertaking a preliminary feasibility assessment to determine the viability of collocating data centres beside our fleet of generating and storage assets.
"Any decision to develop a data centre would require thorough environmental and technical assessments and approvals."
Origin has already partnered with Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners to co-locate a data centre next to its $2.5 billion Supernode battery near Brisbane.
Eraring is Australia's biggest coal-fired power station and employs 220 people directly and another 200 contractors; however, it is scheduled for closure in April 2029.
A further 1400 workers are employed indirectly at Centennial Coal's Myuna Colliery, which services Eraring, and other support businesses.
As part of the transition from coal to renewable energy, Origin has commissioned a four-phase battery rollout at its Eraring site, which began in 2025.
Once complete, the Eraring battery would be capable of storing 700 megawatts or 2800 megawatt hours of power, making it one of the largest battery energy storage systems in the world.
When cycled once a day, the Eraring battery would deliver enough energy to power more than 150,000 NSW households annually.
The need for data centres is being turbocharged by the growth of artificial intelligence, as well as cloud storage and digital services.
Data centres require massive amounts of energy to run high-intensity computing and cooling systems. So it makes economic and logistical sense to build them close to existing power stations.
A month ago it was announced that a $10 billion data centre and battery storage system has been proposed on land owned by Malabar Resources between Muswellbrook and Denman.
It was followed by a plan to build a 540-megawatt data centre on land formerly used by the Kurri Kurri aluminium smelter.
The two data centres would collectively employ 1000 people during the construction phase and about 550 after construction.
Lake Macquarie mayor Adam Shultz has been advocating to the state and federal governments since his election in 2024 for investment in assisting with the transition of the Eraring workforce into other forms of employment ahead of its 2029 closure.
While Origin is yet to approach Lake Macquarie City Council about the data centre proposal at Eraring, Cr Shultz would welcome their interest.
"I haven't heard anything about it directly, but I know Lake Macquarie City Council would welcome any initiatives that provide different opportunities for people post the energy and mining transformation that the Hunter is undergoing," Cr Shultz said.
"If this is something that is potentially coming for Eraring in years to come, then we're all ears."
