X2M & Resi Ventures plan regional data centre precincts

X2M has signed a partnership agreement with Resi Ventures to develop integrated data centre and energy infrastructure precincts across regional Australia. The first project is expected to be the Miners Rest Renewable Energy Integration Precinct in regional Victoria.

The agreement sets a five-year framework for projects in multiple locations, with X2M supplying software to manage energy and infrastructure systems across the developments. Resi is an Australian property developer with about AUD $900 million in projects.

The Miners Rest site is planned near Ballarat, about 10 kilometres north-west of the city. The precinct plans include a data centre with capacity of 10MW to 100MW, a battery energy storage system of more than 10MW, heavy electric vehicle charging, an anaerobic biodigester, and links to regional renewable energy zones.

X2M said its system would connect energy generation, storage, distribution, and environmental sensors across the precinct through a single management platform. It also expects the software to manage electricity, heating, and cooling exchanges between the data centre and other site services, using two spring lakes on the property.

The project will still need regulatory and planning approvals. If approved, it would place a regional Victorian site at the centre of a broader push to build data centre capacity outside Australia's main metropolitan markets.

Regional shift

Most Australian data centre infrastructure has historically been concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne. But operators and developers are increasingly assessing regional sites as demand for computing capacity rises. Growth in artificial intelligence workloads and cloud services has added pressure to secure power, cooling, and connectivity in new locations.

X2M and Resi are targeting that shift with a model that combines data centre space with on-site and nearby energy infrastructure. The companies said regional edge data centres remain underserved despite rising demand for processing capacity closer to end users.

According to figures cited by the companies, the Australian market for regional edge data centres is valued at about AUD $1.2 billion and is projected to reach AUD $3.6 billion by 2029. More broadly, investment in Australia's data centre and connectivity infrastructure could reach AUD $135 billion by 2035.

Software role

X2M is best known for software used in smart city, utility, and infrastructure settings. In the proposed precincts, its role would be to pull data from a range of equipment and systems into a single operating view.

That would cover devices such as generators, battery storage, solar inverters, electric vehicle chargers, heating and cooling systems, grid meters, and building environment sensors. X2M said the system is designed to work across different manufacturers and communications standards, which often complicate infrastructure management at large multi-vendor sites.

X2M said it has connected more than 500,000 devices across 89 enterprise and government customers globally. Its operations span water, energy, utilities, and smart city applications across five geographies, and the Resi agreement opens a path into the data centre market.

The partnership also gives Resi a technology partner for the operating layer of the proposed precincts, rather than only the property and construction elements. The focus on combining data centre assets with batteries, electric vehicle charging, and other energy systems reflects a broader industry shift to treat digital infrastructure and energy supply as interdependent rather than separate projects.

Mohan Jesudason, Chief Executive Officer of X2M, commented on the agreement.

"The Resi Ventures partnership represents a major opportunity to establish a foothold in an emerging infrastructure category. Data centres have a fundamental energy management problem, and it is only set to grow as demand increases. Every megawatt of capacity depends on connecting and optimising a vast number of devices in real time. That is exactly what our platform is designed to do. This partnership provides an opportunity to establish compelling data centre-based multiuse precincts in one of the fastest-growing infrastructure sectors globally, while supporting the development of regional communities through advanced digital infrastructure. This initiative, together with X2M's broader business in the smart city ecosystem, positions the company well in a number of related verticals with large growth prospects where the company has proven capability," said Jesudason.

Anthony Braunthal, Co-Founder of Resi Ventures, also commented.

"Regional Australia represents one of the most compelling and underserviced opportunities in the national data centre pipeline, and the tailwinds are only accelerating as AI-driven demand grows. Beyond the economics, there is a real socio-economic story here - regional communities deserve the connectivity and jobs that come with this infrastructure. In X2M, we have found a world-class platform that can unify energy and data management at industrial scale. That combination of purpose-designed infrastructure and proven technology is what gives us genuine confidence in rolling out integrated energy and data precincts with X2M," said Braunthal.