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National development and public input
Australian data centre development
Australia's data-centre sector is expanding rapidly. This page tracks the scale of development nationally and highlights projects where there is a current or emerging opportunity for public input.
The action map prioritises projects with an identifiable planning process, petition, consultation, community campaign or other public participation pathway.
National snapshot
Australia's data-centre build-out
National data and active pathways last reviewed: .
90
Pipeline projects
Projects at different stages of development.
19
Sites under construction
Approximately 1,853 MW.
27
Approved, not yet built
Combined capacity of at least 3.38 GW. ABC's national planning-record review, checked with RenewMap and CBRE.
29+
Applications awaiting determination
At least 29 formally lodged planning applications.
Action map
Projects with current public action
The map highlights data-centre developments with an open or emerging pathway for public participation, including planning submissions, council comments, parliamentary petitions, consultations and active community campaigns.
Australia
Select a project
Open
Coming soon
Public action pathways
What the action types mean
- Planning submission
- Formal or accepted input to a planning authority before determination.
- Council comment
- Council accepts comments, but statutory notification or appeal rights do not necessarily apply.
- Government consultation
- Formal policy, regulatory or infrastructure consultation.
- Parliamentary petition
- An official state or federal parliament petition.
- Community petition
- A non-government petition or campaign.
- Community consultation
- A developer or community engagement process.
- Environmental assessment
- An EPA or federal environmental assessment process where public input is available.
- Coming soon
- A documented public process is expected but has not opened.
No projects match those filters
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What the 29+ minimum covers
NSW: 17 State Significant Development applications; Victoria: at least 9; Queensland: at least 2; Tasmania: at least 1.
Source: planning-record review supplied to AI Australia Watch, 23 September 2026. Research and source record.
Scale of investment
The number of projects tells only part of the story. New data centres are substantially larger than much of Australia's existing stock.
- $21.6 billion of data-centre-related construction work was under construction as at .
- More than $17 billion of data-centre-related building work was approved over the preceding year, reported by RLB on .
- An estimated 19% of the value of all non-residential building approvals nationally related to data centres; in Victoria, approximately 30% (RLB, ).
- 21.6 GW of total tracked IT capacity spans operational, under-construction, committed and early-stage phases (Data Centres Australia / DC Byte, ).
Sources: RLB analysis of ABS data, 23 July 2026; DC Byte, 31 March 2026. RLB uses the ABS “commercial buildings not elsewhere classified” category as a proxy for data-centre construction.
Electricity-demand modelling225 projects in AEMO development modelling
AEMO's 2026 electricity-demand modelling includes approximately 225 data centres described as “in development”, representing around 67 GW of potential capacity across the National Electricity Market.
Development updatesVictoria’s plan and the Wesley Vale proposal
Victoria: Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan
The plan announced on 22 September sets out expectations for new renewable generation and storage, network costs, non-potable water, a 150-metre separation from residential areas and community benefits. Implementation will require further changes to planning rules.
Victorian Government action plan
Wesley Vale: council enforcement notice
On 25 September, Latrobe Council reported issuing a notice of intention to enforce over works at the proposed AI data-centre site. Council said it had requested that works stop because of concerns they extended beyond the approved forest practices plan, and that Firmus had complied with that request.