AirTrunk Signs Exclusivity Deal for 260-MW Hunter Solar and Battery

• AirTrunk and European Energy Australia signed an exclusivity agreement for 260 MW of solar, 800+ MWh of batteries and up to 350 MW of wind.
• The Hunter projects would supply AirTrunk's NSW data centres; a long-term PPA is still under discussion.
• Solar and storage are expected online in 2030, wind in 2032, on Ausgrid's 132-kV network.

Data-centre operator AirTrunk and European Energy Australia have signed an exclusivity agreement to develop a 260-MW solar project, a battery of more than 800 MWh and a wind project of up to 350 MW in the Hunter region of New South Wales. AirTrunk announced the deal on Nov. 12 in a statement.

It is not yet a supply contract. The partners are still developing the projects and are discussing a possible long-term power purchase agreement for AirTrunk's NSW load, including a data-centre campus it has proposed at Kurri Kurri. AirTrunk described the package as two projects. It did not name them, give the battery's power rating or put a cost on the plan.

The solar plant and battery are expected to start operating in 2030 and the wind farm in 2032. European Energy plans to connect them to Ausgrid's upgraded 132-kV network in the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone, subject to approvals. NSW declared that zone in December 2022 with an intended network capacity of 1 GW, according to EnergyCo NSW.

The Hunter deal in numbers

• 260 MW of solar and 800+ MWh of battery storage, targeted for 2030.
• 350 MW of wind at most, targeted for 2032.
• 610 MW of generation if the wind project is built at full size (list.solar calculation).
• 43% of that generation would come from solar (list.solar calculation).
• 61%: 610 MW measured against the zone's 1-GW intended network capacity (list.solar calculation).
• 8 times the 31 MW of Mulwala, the NSW solar farm whose output AirTrunk already buys (list.solar calculation).
• 73% of AirTrunk's electricity use was matched with renewables in fiscal 2026, against a 100% goal for 2030.

The Hunter plan follows Mulwala, a 31-MW solar farm in NSW that European Energy opened on Nov. 5. Its solar output is backed by an offtake agreement with AirTrunk, and a 25 MW / 100 MWh battery is due to be added.

Canberra expects new data centres to secure additional clean generation or storage to offset their demand, and NSW asks operators to fund the extra supply. "Digital growth must bring new energy with it," AirTrunk founder and Chief Executive Officer Robin Khuda said.

The Kurri Kurri campus, on a former smelter site at Loxford, is still in planning. The Hunter projects and any power purchase agreement remain subject to further development, approvals and final arrangements.