Australia drops proposed renewable-power mandate for data centers

Australia's federal government has decided not to proceed with a proposed rule that would have required data centers to power part of their installations with renewable energy, according to reporting cited by Data Center Dynamics. The decision followed an agreement with state leaders on a national AI development plan and objections from two regions. Federal and state governments are now expected to work on consistent mandatory standards for data-center energy, water and land use. New South Wales has separately proposed requiring data centers to source at least 40% of their energy from wind power.