FEAR & GREED | Business News Q+A: The $1b Aussie company tackling AI's biggest challenge
Feb 10, 2026
Jack Curtis, co-founder and CCO of Neara, builds digital and behavioural models of electricity networks. He discusses how those 3D simulations pinpoint spare grid capacity. He explains why getting power to data centres is becoming the main limit on AI growth. He covers solutions from better planning to tech that squeezes more capacity from existing networks.
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Digital Twins Mirror Real Grid Behavior
- Neara builds 3D digital models of electricity networks and infuses them with physics to mirror real-world behaviour.
- Simulations in these models reliably predict how physical infrastructure will respond to changes or stressors.
Mining Example Shows Model Use
- Jack uses a mining example to show how Neara finds and secures power for heavy users like mines or data centres.
- He explains the models can also predict impacts from events like dust storms so operators can preemptively mitigate effects.
Grid, Not Generation, Is The Bottleneck
- Generation capacity has become cheaper and easier to add, shifting the bottleneck to the electricity network that transports power.
- The key constraint now is access to the grid, not lack of generation.