人工智能和数据中心项目的激增威胁着将投资者的注意力从澳大利亚的可再生能源和储能项目转移，可能阻碍该国减排的推进。
The surge in artificial intelligence and data center projects threatens to shift investor attention away from renewables and batteries in Australia, potentially hampering the country’s push to reduce emissions.
“这是一场资本竞争，”Grok Ventures 投资主管 Ridhaa Ahmed 在周三于悉尼举行的《澳大利亚金融评论报》能源与气候峰会上表示。该公司得到亿万富翁 Mike Cannon-Brookes 的支持，专注于气候技术投资。他说，数据中心“确实消耗了大部分氧气”。
“It is a competition for capital,” Ridhaa Ahmed, head of investments at Grok Ventures, a climate tech investor backed by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, said at the Australian Financial Review’s Energy and Climate summit in Sydney on Wednesday. Data centers “really consume most of the oxygen,” he said.
能源经济与金融分析研究所（Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis）在一份 9 月报告中指出，澳大利亚主电网范围内全部获批的风能和太阳能项目中，只有 6% 已获得长期电力购买协议，这是锁定融资的关键要求。该研究所表示，对老旧燃煤电厂何时退役的不确定性正在劝退可再生能源开发商的交易。
Only 6% of fully approved wind and solar projects across Australia’s main electricity grids have secured long-term power purchase agreements, a key requirement for locking in financing, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said in a September report. Uncertainty over when aging coal-fired power plants will retire is discouraging deals with renewable energy developers, the institute said.
清洁能源金融公司（Clean Energy Finance Corporation）首席执行官 Paul McCartney 在会议上表示，人工智能“可能提供更高回报”。“我们看到很多可再生能源项目，但其资本支出成本已经飙升，因此收入流无法支撑这些成本。” 澳大利亚储备银行的数据显示，澳大利亚数据中心运营商在 2026 年前八个月至少筹集了 350 亿澳元（240 亿美元），这一数额已经超过去年全年所获的 240 亿澳元。这一数字是 2020 年至 2024 年年均水平的七倍以上。
AI is “potentially offering higher returns,” Paul McCartney, the chief executive officer of Clean Energy Finance Corporation, said at the conference. “We’re seeing a lot of renewable developments, their capex costs are just blown out, so the revenue streams don’t carry back to that.”Australian data-center operators raised at least A$35 billion ($24 billion) in the first eight months of 2026, surging past the A$24 billion secured during all of last year, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia. That’s more than seven times the annual average between 2020 and 2024.
澳大利亚能源市场委员会（Australian Energy Market Commission）表示，大型数据中心通过提供长期需求和收入确定性，有可能推动一些可再生能源项目的进展，因为开发商需要这种保障。但这前提是需要政策支持，要求这些设施投资新的可再生能源发电项目。
Major data centers could help progress some renewable projects by providing the long-term demand and revenue certainty that developers need. However, this would hinge on policy support requiring the facilities to invest in new renewable generation, according to the Australian Energy Market Commission.
“很多资源正流向数据中心，因为它是新出现的闪亮玩具，”律所DLA Piper澳大利亚能源部门负责人克里斯·米切尔在会议侧边表示。“但如果没有能源，你就无法拥有这个新出现的闪亮玩具。”
“A lot is going to the data centers because it’s the new shiny toy,” Chris Mitchell, head of energy for Australia at law firm DLA Piper, said on the sidelines of the conference. “But you can’t have the new shiny toy without the energy.”