The energy minister, Chris Bowen, says the federal government will override state governments that oppose new national rules on datacentres, with commonwealth legislation forcing new AI datacentres to be powered by renewable energy and banning those fuelled by gas. The constitution is clear about the power of commonwealth legislation. Queensland and the NT last week opposed the changes in a meeting of state and federal energy ministers, despite all other states backing the plan. On Wednesday, the AEMC, the national body for the power grid, advised that datacentres should have to show renewables certificates. The AEMC warned that, without changes to energy rules, grid connection costs for datacentres would be felt “across the consumer base at no clear consumer benefit”.