Firmus Technologies has until December 15 to lodge a complete major project proposal for its planned $2.1 billion, 52-megawatt AI data centre at Wesley Vale, or risk having the application withdrawn, The Urban Developer reported.

Under the state’s major projects process, the developer has 90 days to provide the documents needed to decide whether the Wesley Vale project qualifies for assessment through that pathway. Latrobe Council has referred the proposal to the state Planning Minister without a completed major project proposal.

If Firmus misses the deadline, the proposal will be treated as withdrawn, and the same or a substantially similar application cannot be resubmitted to the council for two years. If the minister decides the project should not be declared a major project, it would return to the council’s assessment process.

The centre would occupy about three hectares at 174 and 226 Mill Road, on the former APPM/PaperlinX pulp and paper mill site, which adjoins existing transmission infrastructure including the Wesley Vale substation. Firmus estimates about 70 local civil, electrical and contractor jobs during construction, and more than 20 full-time jobs in the initial stage of operation. The proposal includes 40 diesel backup generators.

Firmus says the cooling system would use an average of 448 kilolitres of water a year, sourced from on-site rainwater, with dry cooling on most days. The ABC reported in August that the development application also allows for water to be trucked in, which Firmus expected to be needed “only in extreme dry periods”. That followed the company’s accidental publication of plans on its website to use water from Tasmanian Irrigation, which said at the time it could not legally supply data centres.

Latrobe Council has also investigated whether site works went beyond an approved forest practices plan. Firmus said the work was general site maintenance that did not require planning approval.

The deadline follows Firmus’s decision to withdraw its planned ASX listing on October 9, citing “market volatility and prevailing market conditions”. The float had targeted a valuation of about $44 billion.

Last week, Firmus general energy manager Paul Grzinic told Tasmania’s Joint Select Committee on Energy Matters that the company’s Launceston site and the first stage of Wesley Vale were funded.

“The Launceston site is obviously fully funded, Wesley Vale stage one is also fully funded,” Mr Grzinic told the committee.

“And with regards to the other sites, obviously they’re still subject to DA [development approval].”

A Firmus spokesperson told the ABC that stage one of Wesley Vale “is also contracted to a customer and has funding allocated but is still awaiting development approval”. The company says full funding for its 288-megawatt Long Reach site at Bell Bay, which has development approval, has not been secured.

Firmus is also building a 104-megawatt facility at St Leonards in Launceston. Hydro Tasmania is assessing a Firmus request for 444 megawatts, the combined demand of the three sites, with a decision expected by the end of the year.

Mr Grzinic told the committee Firmus’s preference was to underwrite about 1,000 megawatts of new energy, such as wind, through Hydro Tasmania.

“All of our energy will be developed and procured on-island in Tasmania. There will be no developments interstate to support our Tasmanian load,” he said.

Correction, 3 November 2026: An earlier version of this story misspelt the name of Firmus general energy manager Paul Grzinic and attributed to him a claim about Marinus Link costs that does not appear in reports of his evidence. It also described the St Leonards site as partially funded; Mr Grzinic told the committee it was fully funded. The earlier version cited two websites that were not its sources, included background on transmission works and power prices that did not come from our sources, and carried an illustration of rooftop solar panels. These have been removed.