Blackstone-backed data centre operator AirTrunk and European Energy Australia have signed an exclusivity agreement to progress a 260 MW solar project, an 800+ MWh battery project and an up to 350 MW wind project in the Hunter region of New South Wales, AirTrunk said in a release that Bloomberg reported at 23:30 UTC on 11 November. The companies are discussing a potential long-term power purchase agreement to support AirTrunk’s NSW energy needs, including its proposed Kurri Kurri data centre campus.
The two generation projects add up to 610 MW, by our sum, about 20 times the 31 MW Mulwala solar farm the same two companies opened this week. AirTrunk says it matched around 73% of its electricity use with renewable energy in FY26 and is committed to matching 100% by 2030.
Business Pill · Grid Cost Allocation
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on grid cost allocation: who pays when new power lines and capacity are built for large loads such as data centres. It explains the general idea only and does not discuss AirTrunk or European Energy.
The key insight: AirTrunk and European Energy Australia signed an exclusivity agreement to progress a 260 MW solar project, an 800+ MWh battery and an up to 350 MW wind project in the Hunter, and are discussing a potential long-term power purchase agreement for AirTrunk’s NSW needs, including its proposed Kurri Kurri campus. The generation adds up to 610 MW, by our sum, about 20 times the 31 MW Mulwala Solar Farm.
The projects sit in the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone. AirTrunk’s release says that together they “could add more than a gigawatt of new renewables generation and storage to NSW’s electricity system”. That gigawatt mixes generation, in megawatts, with battery storage, in megawatt hours.
The solar and battery projects are expected to begin operating in 2030 and the wind project in 2032. European Energy plans to connect them to Ausgrid’s upgraded 132 kilovolt network, subject to final connection arrangements, approvals and further technical assessments, the release says.
AirTrunk founder and chief executive Robin Khuda said: “Digital growth must bring new energy with it.” Catriona McLeod, managing director of European Energy Australia, said partnerships like this “allow us to bring more renewables online and add more energy to the grid”.
Renewable generation capacity in megawatts: the 31 MW Mulwala Solar Farm that AirTrunk and European Energy Australia opened this week, and the proposed Hunter projects, a 260 MW solar project and an up to 350 MW wind project, up to 610 MW in total by our sum; the proposed 800+ MWh battery is storage and is not in the total. Sources: AirTrunk release, 11 November 2026; European Energy release, 5 November 2026.
Why Kurri Kurri Needs New Supply
AirTrunk is proposing a data centre on the former Kurri Kurri smelter site at Loxford. Its release says the Australian Government expects new data centres to secure new and additional clean energy generation or storage to offset their demand, and that the NSW Data Centre Guidelines expect operators to fund the extra supply their projects require “without shifting net costs to households, businesses or communities”.
Sabooh Whitelaw, AirTrunk’s AVP Energy, said the Hunter projects are an important step, “but more renewable generation and firming will be needed to support Kurri Kurri and AirTrunk’s wider NSW needs”. AirTrunk’s Kurri Kurri page says it is developing a Community Energy Program that could give nearby eligible households a $200 annual deduction on their electricity bills.
The Scale, by Our Arithmetic
The Hunter generation, up to 610 MW, is about 20 times the 31 MW Mulwala Solar Farm that AirTrunk and European Energy Australia opened this week, by our arithmetic. The battery adds 800+ MWh of storage on top.
In an April 2026 release, AirTrunk said it would scale to more than 3.3 GW of operating and planned capacity across 22 campuses in six operating regions. 610 MW is about 18% of 3.3 GW, by our arithmetic. The two are different measures: one is power plant capacity, the other data centre capacity, and solar and wind farms do not run at full output all day. We give the ratio for scale only.
On renewable matching, around 73% in FY26 against a 100% target by 2030 leaves 27 percentage points to close, by our arithmetic, while the portfolio grows.
Who Owns AirTrunk
Funds managed by Blackstone, along with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, agreed in 2024 to acquire AirTrunk at an implied enterprisevalue of over A$24 billion, according to the deal release AirTrunk hosts. AirTrunk’s planned listing in Singapore was delayed, as we reported in October.
As we read it, the release turns a government expectation into a procurement step: the Australian Government expects new data centres to secure new and additional clean energy to offset their demand, and AirTrunk is lining up specific new projects near a specific campus rather than buying certificates. The power purchase agreement that would pay for them is still under discussion.
Robin Khuda, Founder and CEO of AirTrunk, release, 11 Nov 2026
FOR KURRI KURRI AirTrunk’s AVP Energy said more renewable generation and firming will be needed to support Kurri Kurri and AirTrunk’s wider NSW needs.
FOR TIMING The solar and battery projects are expected to begin operating in 2030 and the wind project in 2032, subject to connection arrangements, approvals and technical assessments, the release says.
FOR THE 2030 TARGET AirTrunk says it matched around 73% of its electricity use with renewables in FY26; 100% by 2030 leaves 27 percentage points, by our arithmetic.
The framework says: “The structural bottleneck isn’t computing, it’s electrons.”
As we read it, AirTrunk’s Hunter agreement is that bottleneck handled at the level of one campus: the electrons for Kurri Kurri are being contracted before the campus is approved. The framework predates this agreement and does not discuss it.
Share of AirTrunk’s electricity use matched with renewable energy: around 73% in FY26, against its commitment to match 100% by 2030; the 27-point gap is our arithmetic. Source: AirTrunk release, 11 November 2026.
What Is Not Established
The release calls the power purchase agreement potential and under discussion, and it gives no price, term or volume for it. The projects remain subject to development, approvals and final arrangements, and the connections to further technical assessments. The documents we read give no power demand figure for the Kurri Kurri campus. We read only the opening of the Bloomberg article.
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AirTrunk and European Energy Australia signed an exclusivity agreement to progress a 260 MW solar project, an 800+ MWh battery and an up to 350 MW wind project in the Hunter, and are discussing a long-term power purchase agreement for AirTrunk’s NSW needs, including Kurri Kurri. The generation adds up to 610 MW, by our sum.
A note on sourcing. The agreement, project sizes, timings, quotations and the 73% renewable match come from AirTrunk’s release, which we read in full; we read only the opening of Bloomberg’s article and did not contact AirTrunk, European Energy or Blackstone. The 3.3 GW figure is from AirTrunk’s April 2026 Malaysia release, the Kurri Kurri details from AirTrunk’s project page, the Mulwala size from European Energy’s 5 November release and the ownership from the 2024 acquisition release on AirTrunk’s site. Sums and ratios are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
