Drew McPherson

Energy demand from Australia’s data centres is expected to surge over the next decade, adding another major source of demand to an electricity system already undergoing one of the biggest transformations in its history. Meeting that demand will require much more than new generation. It will require an enormous physical construction effort across Australia.

By Drew McPherson, co-founder and CEO of iseekplant

Australia’s energy transition is one of the biggest construction programs the country has undertaken.

New sources of electricity demand are emerging at the same time, with the Australian Energy Market Operator forecasting data centres to increase their share of grid demand from between 3% to 13% over the next decade.

Meeting that demand while replacing retiring current energy generation plants means a significant amount of new energy infrastructure needs to be built and connected to the grid. But before many of those assets become operational, there are sites to prepare, roads to build or upgrade, materials to transport, foundations to pour and thousands of pieces of equipment to move around the country.

That work is occurring alongside Australia’s existing infrastructure pipeline, housing targets, data centre investment and other major projects, all competing for many of the same contractors, workers and equipment.

Infrastructure Australia has forecast that the infrastructure workforce shortage could reach 300,000 workers by 2027, with regional shortages expected to grow particularly sharply.

The success of the energy transition relies on having the workers and equipment available to build critical infrastructure.

Technology is changing how the industry responds

Many suppliers are small and medium businesses, where the person operating the equipment or managing the site may also be quoting work, answering enquiries and organising the next job. These businesses need tools that reduce the amount of time skilled people spend on administrative tasks and give them more time to focus on delivering projects.

We are already seeing a rapid change in how the industry uses technology to manage that workload. As Australia’s largest construction marketplace, iseekplant has access to data that provides a window into how construction demand is changing across the country.

The data shows that the share of project opportunities captured through AI-enabled technology has increased from under 20% to more than 78% in 12 months.

Technology can help contractors find and respond to opportunities faster, while also making it easier for project teams to find equipment and services outside their existing supplier networks.

That becomes particularly important in regional areas, where the available pool of contractors and equipment can be smaller and distances between projects much greater.

NSW provides a good example. As the state is developing five Renewable Energy Zones across Central-West Orana, New England, South West, Hunter-Central Coast and Illawarra as it prepares for the retirement of coal-fired generation.

Between FY25 and FY26 iseekplant recorded a 46% increase in project opportunities across NSW. Meanwhile, Central West NSW increased 104%, Far West & Orana 92%, the Hunter Valley 73% and the Central Coast 43%.

Renewable energy is only one part of the construction occurring in those regions. Housing, resources, transport and other infrastructure are also competing for capacity. Many of these projects ultimately draw on the same civil contractors, equipment, operators and supporting services.

The challenge isn’t simply having enough investment in renewable energy. We also need the construction capacity to turn that investment into functioning infrastructure.

Regional communities have a stake in how we build

The renewable energy build-out is bringing major investment into regional Australia. This is creating opportunities for local contractors, equipment and capabilities that already exist within these communities.

There are experienced civil contractors, earthmoving businesses, haulage operators and equipment suppliers across regional Australia. The challenge can be making that capability visible to project teams that may traditionally work with a smaller group of established suppliers.

Finding suitable suppliers closer to where the work is occurring can also reduce the need to mobilise machinery and people over long distances, while giving regional businesses an opportunity to participate in the infrastructure being built around them.

Construction project opportunities are growing throughout regional Australia. Our data shows a 40.65% increase regionally between FY25 and FY26, compared with 16.5% growth across metropolitan markets.

Some individual regions are growing considerably faster. Regional Western Australia and the Pilbara increased 103%, North West NSW 61%, Cairns 46% and Central Queensland 36%.

This rapid growth also means regional businesses can find themselves servicing several major project pipelines at once. A contractor working on a road project may be competing for operators and equipment with a transmission project, a wind farm, a housing development or a mine.

The question for the next phase of the energy transition isn’t only where projects are going to be built. It is what those projects will require when they reach construction and whether the contractors, equipment and people will be available in those regions at the right time.

Building clean infrastructure more cleanly

Refuelling Solutions, which supplies fuels to construction and infrastructure projects around Australia, is seeing contractors increasingly ask about renewable and lower-emissions fuel alternatives as they look for ways to reduce the environmental impact of project delivery.

Brent Herrick, Chief Operating Officer at Refuelling Solutions – home to trusted industry brands Mini-Tankers and Maxi-Tankers -, says expectations are changing alongside the projects themselves.

“We’ve already seen that lower-emissions fuels can be used in some of the heavy equipment required on major construction projects. The next challenge is making those options more widely available as Australia’s infrastructure pipeline grows.

“For contractors, it still comes down to the fundamentals: the fuel needs to be available, reliable and capable of keeping equipment operating. We’re seeing growing interest in renewable, and lower-emissions fuels from contractors looking to reduce the footprint of their work without compromising what they need on site.”

The location of suppliers, movement of heavy equipment, transport of materials and the way projects use resources all contribute to the impact of building new energy infrastructure.

Delivering the transition will depend on thousands of contractors and suppliers doing the practical work that turns energy policy into physical infrastructure.

INDEPENDENT NEWS IS IMPORTANT.

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