Overview
- The NSW government announced on Monday a Data Centre Policy Framework that gives projects meeting the new rules a 75-day fast-track planning assessment instead of the typical longer process.
- Developers must meet six principles, including high energy and water efficiency, funding new power and water capacity, not imposing a net cost on consumers, delivering local infrastructure, investing in supply chains, and committing to jobs and training.
- The package tasks the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal with a water‑pricing review and creates a new Office of AI to coordinate digital investment, but those bodies will take months to put in place.
- Ministers warned builders that refuse the conditions risk having proposals refused, yet the framework does not list formal penalties, and local protests and community concerns about water, power, noise and consultation persist.
- NSW already hosts more than 60 data centres and has about 19 major projects worth roughly $50 billion in the pipeline, and the policy seeks to make developers pay for grid and water upgrades so growth does not raise household bills and strains on local services.