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Rowena Duckworth
Not many companies can say they’ve turned an oil and gas plant into a data centre. However, Pilot Energy has just done exactly that.
The West Perth-based energy company has commissioned the first module of its Dongara data centre at the Cliff Head Plant site near Dongara in Western Australia, delivered on schedule and within budget. The move marks a meaningful pivot for a company that has been actively repositioning itself for a world beyond conventional hydrocarbons.
The project is a joint venture with UAE-based technology company Kala Data, which has substantially funded the installation and commissioning of this first stage. Mechanical completion wrapped up on 23 April, with commissioning commencing the following day.
Pilot Energy’s chief executive officer Brian Siddall said: “Excellent effort from the Pilot and Kala teams, as they work together to deliver this strategically important project on schedule.”
An initial 0.4MW of computing capacity is now live and operational, powered by the existing gas-fired generators already on site at Cliff Head. The remaining 0.6MW of computing capacity from this first 1MW module will be installed and commissioned once an upgrade to the site’s electrical infrastructure is complete.
The concept is elegantly practical. Cliff Head already has power generation infrastructure, a physical site, and established operations. Rather than letting those assets generate diminishing returns as oil production matures, Pilot has repurposed them for high-performance computing, a sector whose appetite for reliable, cost-effective energy is seemingly insatiable.
Data centres require abundant power and securing that power affordably is one of the industry’s biggest challenges globally. An existing gas-fired plant with spare capacity is, in that context, a genuinely attractive asset.
‘Excellent effort from the Pilot and Kala teams, as they work together to deliver this strategically important project on schedule.’
Pilot Energy’s chief executive officer Brian Siddall
Kala Data, the partner providing the computing hardware and operational expertise, is a funded private company specialising in monetising energy assets through high-performance computing. Its skillset spans technology, finance and geology, built around identifying energy infrastructure that can be productively repurposed – exactly the kind of asset Pilot brings to the table at Cliff Head.
The first module is just the beginning. Pilot says it plans to expand the Dongara data centre to a total capacity of 4MW in the second half of 2026 by installing three additional 1MW modules. The expansion is contingent on satisfactory operation of the initial module and what the company learned from the first installation, making subsequent modules faster and cheaper to deploy.
For punters, the story here is about more than a data centre. Pilot is actively developing what it describes as Australia’s first offshore carbon dioxide storage project through the conversion of the Cliff Head oil field. At the same time, the company is pursuing hydrogen and clean ammonia production for export to APAC clean energy markets.
The data centre, therefore, represents near-term revenue generation from existing infrastructure while those longer-term clean energy projects develop. It is, in short, a pragmatic way to sweat existing assets while the bigger transformation plays out.
Now the lights are on at Dongara, the next question is how quickly Pilot can scale it up.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
