NEXTDC's Scroggie apologises over M3 poles, says he has a power fix

At a glance

• NEXTDC chief executive Craig Scroggie apologised on 9 November 2026 to West Footscray residents over the 15-metre power poles planned along their streets to supply M3.

• He told the UBS Australasia Conference in Sydney he has a solution to M3's power, and will announce it once it is finalised and contracted.

• Projects without a customer contract stay on hold until NEXTDC has solved M3's power problem and won back trust, Scroggie said.

• Jemena, M3's electricity distributor, paused the pole works in September and has told NEXTDC it does not expect to restart them before February 2027.

• Shareholders hear the outcome of NEXTDC's capital spending review at the annual general meeting on 20 November.

NEXTDC chief executive Craig Scroggie has apologised to West Footscray residents for the 15-metre power poles that were to carry electricity along their streets to the company's M3 data centre in Melbourne. After residents protested, electricity distributor Jemena suspended the pole works in September, a delay that took about A$140 million out of NEXTDC's FY27 revenue guidance and sent its shares 41.7 per cent lower on 21 October. Goodman Group and Digital Realty have since bought 9.9 per cent of the company.

Speaking at the UBS Australasia Conference in Sydney on 9 November 2026, Scroggie said he was "deeply sorry" the community felt left behind, The Age reported, and told the room he now has a fix for M3's power. NEXTDC will announce that fix only once the community and the council are satisfied they have been made a priority, Scroggie said, and until then any project without a customer contract stays on hold.

Jemena paused the poles after residents objected

Jemena had planned the poles to carry 66kV lines through West Footscray and Yarraville, at about twice the height of typical power poles. It suspended the works because of community opposition and because the council was withholding consent until more consultation took place. Jemena has told NEXTDC it does not expect to restart them before February 2027, so NEXTDC now expects M3's next increase in grid supply in FY28.

Scroggie accepted Jemena's finding that residents had not been consulted enough, The Age reported, and while he said Jemena had not delivered for NEXTDC, he took responsibility himself.

He also defended the site, saying no data centre in Australia has been built in a residential area. M3, he said, sits on a zoned industrial estate that has been used for industry for more than a century, including petrochemical plants and asbestos factories, and he argued the power upgrades would benefit other businesses in the area as well.

Scroggie says NEXTDC has a solution to M3's power

"I already have a solution to the power," Scroggie told the conference, Capital Brief reported, though he added that it would count for nothing without the community on board. NEXTDC will give an update once the solution is finalised and contracted, he said.

On its 21 October investor call, NEXTDC set out the options it was working through with Jemena: extra supply through M3's existing connection, new routes and pole locations, undergrounding parts of the line, and temporary routes. Scroggie said then that routes through industrial areas were the answer and that an underground line was unlikely.

NEXTDC still plans to double M3 to about 10 hectares. The delayed capacity remains under contract, subject to the customer's rights, and the data halls are still being built and handed over. The Victorian Government is expected to decide on M3 Stages 6 and 7 after the state election on 28 November.

Uncontracted NEXTDC projects wait on the M3 fix

Scroggie set the same test for the rest of NEXTDC's pipeline. Anything the company has no customer contract to deliver is no longer a priority, he said, and that work cannot restart "until we clearly communicate that we've solved this problem", Reuters reported. NEXTDC listed 11 centres in development or planning in its 2026 annual report, according to Reuters.

The pause itself began on 21 October, when NEXTDC stopped projects not backed by a customer contract, halted further land acquisitions and cut its FY27 capital spending by A$750 million, to between A$4.5 billion and A$5 billion. On that call Scroggie named M4, M5, S5 and S7 as sites in pre-sales and planning, each with customers engaged.

Work NEXTDC is contracted to deliver carries on. The company reported 740.1MW of contracted capacity at 30 June 2026, 565MW of it not yet billing, and Scroggie said on 21 October that its 250MW program at S4 in Sydney was on track. At the UBS conference he put the delays down to a global debate over social licence and how people feel about AI, with data centres as its physical form.

What to watch

The 20 November AGM. NEXTDC has promised the outcome of its capital spending review and an update on its M3 power work, and shareholders will also vote on the remuneration report.

The power solution. NEXTDC says it will give an update once the solution is finalised and contracted.

The Victorian election on 28 November. The planning decision on M3 Stages 6 and 7 is expected after the vote.

Goodman Group and Digital Realty. The pair want to work with NEXTDC's board, which says it holds no proposal from them.