2026-01-29
The Greens NSW have secured support to establish a parliamentary inquiry into data centre developments in NSW, the first of its kind in Australia.
Grid power demand is expected to jump by 28% over the next 10 years, driven by data centre power requirements, with data centres expected to consume around 11% of NSW electricity supply by 2030. In Sydney, data centres currently consume less than 1% of the water supply. But that number is expected to explode to 25% by 2035, equalling 250 megalitres per day.
NSW is already home to over 90 data centres, with dozens more in the planning pipeline, and the NSW Government has established a planning fast-track pathway, the Investment Delivery Authority, to encourage the development of more hyperscale data centres in NSW. The inquiry will consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of the boom in planned data centre projects, and determine whether there are adequate safeguards in place.
Quotes attributable to Abigail Boyd MP, Greens NSW MLC and Chair of the Public Accountability and Works Committee:
"Every jurisdiction facing runaway data-centre growth has learned the same lesson the hard way: when governments allow development to race ahead without an integrated strategy, the public ends up paying the price.
"In just the last few years, data centres have become big business, and with it comes big energy and water demands. The latest estimates predict data centres will take up to 25% of Sydney's drinking water supply, and consume 11% of all energy produced. Around the world they have driven up power prices, stalled housing development and destroyed communities through noise and heat effects.
"The NSW Government is encouraging more and more new data centre developments, and offering them fast-tracked planning assessments, without any plan for the social and environmental impacts. It doesn't have to be like this - the public should be the ones to determine whether this is the right course of action for our state, not the tech bros and their investment priorities.
"My fear is that governments of all persuasions have been suckered in by a slick get rich quick scheme touted by big tech. And data centres suit the needs of governments perfectly - a supposed solution to economic preoccupations around productivity and growth, and a big new development to cut a ribbon on. I think we need to seriously interrogate those assumptions, and decide for ourselves whether the environmental and climate implications are costs the public are willing to bear.
"In response to questions I submitted, the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water confirmed they had provided formal advice to the Minister that uncontrolled data centre growth could jeopardise NSW's legislated 2035 emissions target.
"While big tech is promising us the moon, it could end up costing us the earth. That's why we've established this inquiry."