Overview
- Goodman confirmed late Monday that it has told the NSW Department of Planning it will not proceed with Project Mars after reassessing the regulatory environment and community feedback.
- Project Mars was a A$1.2 billion, 90-megawatt, three-storey data centre proposed for Lane Cove that sat about 20 metres from the nearest house and roughly 160 metres from Lane Cove West Public School.
- Goodman’s executives acknowledged at a recent federal Senate inquiry that the plan had failed to win a social licence as residents and local groups mounted sustained opposition.
- Utility submissions to planners raised practical concerns about the site’s impact on power and water systems, with Goodman’s plans projecting very high water use during peak operations.
- The withdrawal highlights how tighter state fast-track rules and anticipated federal controls, plus community resistance, are reshaping where and how AI-era data centres get built and could push some investment offshore.