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Exclusive Interview:
AEMC on AI, Data Centres and the Rules Shaping Australia's Evolving Energy System
In this onsite interview, Andrew Lewis, Executive General Manager of the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), shared how Australia's energy rule-maker is approaching AI's growing role across the system — from the grid's shift toward millions of distributed assets, to the rise of data centres as a new source of demand, to how AEMC itself is using AI internally.
Lewis was candid that no one — not AEMC, nor its fellow market bodies — knows exactly how this transition will unfold, describing an approach built around testing, learning and adapting rather than presuming the answers upfront. That same instinct shapes his view on data centres: rather than treating them as a threat, Lewis framed AEMC's current work — advising government on options for data centres to bring their own power — as a way of protecting public trust, or "social licence," in a still-emerging industry.
Internally, AEMC is applying the same test-and-learn mindset to its own operations — from an AI tool that helps staff navigate 25,000 reports built up over 20 years, to a project synthesising historical weather data back to 1940 across more than 2,000 grid locations, aimed at better understanding how weather affects wind and solar output. Looking to 2027, Lewis described success not as having fixed answers, but as continuing to bring industry's newest players into an evolving, consultative process.
Editor's Notes:
In this episode, we discuss…
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Why AEMC is approaching AI's role in the energy transition through testing and learning, not fixed answers
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The shift from a centralised grid to millions of distributed assets — and what that means for market rules
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How AEMC is thinking through data centres' place in the system, including options for them to bring their own power
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Why Lewis frames this as a question of public trust and social licence, not restriction
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Inside AEMC's own AI tools — from navigating 20 years of reports to modelling historical weather data
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AEMC's vision for 2027: an evolving, consultative partnership with industry's newest players
Meet Interviewee :
Andrew Lewis
Executive General Manager, Consumer, Markets and Analytics
AEMC
“ We all think we know where we're going, but we don't know exactly how we're going to get there. So part of this is about making sure that we're prepared to test things, recognise if they're not working, but if they are working, to really lean in and make sure that we enhance the benefits that come from them.
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