Australians are substantially supportive of renewable megaprojects, but their approval begins to wane if the produced energy doesn’t benefit them, according to a new study examining social acceptance of the proposed world’s largest solar plant.

The study by Charles Darwin University (CDU) examined the public acceptance of the Australia-Asia PowerLink, a 12,000-ha solar megaproject proposed to be developed in the Barkly region of the Northern Territory.

Once developed, it’s intended to export most of the solar energy produced overseas.

The study surveyed people from around Australia to gain insights into their attitudes towards renewable energy and the proposed project. “Made in Australia, used in Asia: Public acceptance and the cable controversy of Australia-Asia PowerLink, a remote solar megaproject” was published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science.

The results showed 89% of respondents supported the construction of the project and agreed the remote Northern Territory was the perfect place to build it.

Lead author Professor Kerstin Zander, who is from CDU’s Northern Institute, said approval of this project declined when respondents were asked if they agreed it was acceptable to export energy overseas.

Fifty-four percent of respondents said it was acceptable to export energy overseas. More than half the respondents who found it unacceptable would change their minds if the produced solar energy was used exclusively in Australia.

“While our results indicate that the developer might have a social license to build the solar megafarm, they do not necessarily have it for exporting a large proportion of the energy,” Professor Zander said.

“Part of this may be entangled with concern about the cable itself, there may also be concerns related to distributive justice. Unlike in Europe, where energy moves relatively freely among countries in the European Union, only half of the respondents considered it fair to produce the energy on Australian land then export most of it for use in a different country.

“What may be needed to raise acceptance is further consultation and awareness raising for potential benefits of the planned strategy, especially the lower greenhouse gas production in Asia if it is replaced by Australian renewable solar power.”

Further results include 78% of respondents agreed renewable energy production is needed to reduce Australia’s carbon emissions, and 89% agreed the Northern Territory was the perfect place to have such a large-scale renewable energy project.

This paper follows previous research conducted by Professor Zander regarding the public’s views of this proposed project.

Artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure provider Nscale has secured $1.1bn in series B funding, a week after it was announced the firm would be working with the UK government to deploy the UK’s largest graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster.

The company claims it is the largest Series B funding round ever secured in the UK and Europe. It was led by Norwegian industrial investment company Aker ASA, with support from the firm’s existing shareholders, and tech firms Nokia and NVIDIA.

Nscale, which has a UK headquarters, was incorporated in May 2024 after being spun out of Australian crypto-mining infrastructure provider, Arkon Energy.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, the majority of its directors are located overseas, and it announced plans to open a UK datacentre in Loughton, Essex, by late 2026.

Earlier this month, the company announced a technology tie-up with software giant Microsoft that would see the pair collaborate to create the UK’s largest supercomputer at its site in Loughton.

At present, its largest infrastructure investment appears to be in Norway, while Arkon Energy is known to have operated out of datacentres in Ohio in the United States.

The company said it plans to use the investment to accelerate the deployment of Nscale’s large-scale AI infrastructure across Europe, North America and the Middle East. This is in support of its involvement in projects such as OpenAI’s bid to build sovereign AI compute capacity in Norway and the UK through its respective Stargate Norway and UK initiatives. According to Nscale, Stargate Norway is targeting the deployment of 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026.

Nscale said the funding will also be used to expand the size of its engineering and operations teams, in support of its plans to grow its customer base within the enterprise and government sectors worldwide.

Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale, said: “We are creating one of the largest global platforms of its kind – purpose-built to meet surging demand and unlock breakthroughs at unprecedented scale.

“This allows Nscale to provide our customers access to scarce, and highly sought after, compute capacity and rapidly accelerate the build-out of secure, compliant and energy-efficient AI infrastructure. Europe needs a hyperscaler, and Nscale is rising to the challenge.”

Øyvind Eriksen, president and CEO at Aker ASA, added: “The scale and quality of this Series B round are a testament to Nscale’s vision and momentum – and to the strength of our collaboration.”

‍Since the launch of the government’s AI opportunities action plan policy paper in January 2025, Nscale has been name-checked in ministerial speeches and press releases from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Kanishka Narayan, the UK’s AI minister, said the company is playing an important role in helping the government achieve its aim of positioning the UK as an AI superpower.

“The success of UK-founded companies like Nscale shows how our country can be at the cutting edge of AI,” said Narayan. “By attracting global expertise and investment, it is building the essential infrastructure for the UK to compete internationally, drive growth and create jobs across the country.”

Bearing in mind this is the Chinese model (there’s no word on a global edition yet), I was unable to test all of the functionality, but I have a good idea what will work here and what doesn’t. I love the time and notifications, because I don’t have to pick up my phone as much when it’s face down on the desk and I’m working.

The customizable themes and pets are fun. It’s an opportunity to add a little more personality to your phone. While the real-time updates work only with select Chinese apps right now, the utility is clear, and the music controls are very handy. The selfie preview is an obvious benefit, as the photos you can take with the main camera far surpass those taken with any front-facing camera.

I’m also excited about the pin function. You know that awkward dance you do when you’re queuing? You have the QR code that they’ll scan in a minute open on your phone, but you want to continue reading or messaging. Well, this allows you to pin it on the back display and get on with what you’re doing. While I wasn’t able to test it, I know this will be handy.

As a big retro gaming fan, I love the look and feel of the case, and it automatically connects via Bluetooth and triggers the game mode. But once I got over the novelty, I was left wondering why I would ever want to play a game on a tiny screen interrupted by camera lenses when I have one of the most gorgeous 6.7-inch phone displays I’ve ever used in my hand. I tried Angry Birds 2, and it’s totally playable on the back display, but just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

And the Rest

Naturally, the 17 Pro Max is a specs beast, and the 17 Pro isn’t far behind. Both are powered by Qualcomm’s brand-new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, and my review unit has 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage. The displays feature Xiaomi’s new M10 display technology, and it is sharp and power-efficient, and it gets very bright.