Pilot Energy, an Australian fossil fuel firm, has installed the first 1MW module at its Dongara Data Center located at the Cliff Head Plant near Dongara, Western Australia.

The data center project is being developed as part of a joint venture with Kala Data, and ultimately aims to expand to 4MW in H2 of 2026. The data center is currently powered by the existing gas-fired generators on site. According to the company, the facility will connect to international data communications networks via a Starlink satellite connection.

The Cliff Head Plant was formerly known as the Arrowsmith Stabilization Plant (ASP), a processing plant for crude oil from the offshore Cliff Head Oil Field. Due to the oil field reaching the end of its life, the site is currently being repurposed into a clean energy and technology hub.

The hub is expected to become part of Australia’s first offshore carbon capture and storage project, with the first CO2 injection targeted for 2026. In addition, the site will see the deployment of a Direct Air Capture system, known as "Project Wallaby," developed with Capture6 and scheduled to begin operations later this year.

In the interim, the company plans to utilize the site's existing natural gas energy assets to generate revenue. The data center project forms part of this strategy.

Pilot is an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Australia. It has recently begun to pursue diversification into low-carbon energy systems, including hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.

In January, the company announced plans to develop a hybrid solar and battery storage project colocated with a 50MW data center project in Western Australia alongside SN Energy.

UAE-based Kala Data is a technology company specializing in the “monetization of energy assets through high-performance computing,” placing immersion-cooled containerized modules at gas flare sites.