Submission to the inquiry into data centres in NSW
In response to an invitation from the Public Accountability and Works Committee, the Net Zero Commission has provided a submission to the NSW Legislative Council’s inquiry into data centres.
Type: Submission
File: PDF 811.79 KB / Pages 2
Name: Net-Zero-Commission-Data-Centres-Inquiry-Submission.pdf
Data centres represent a significant economic opportunity for NSW. However, the forecast increased electricity demand from data centres means good policy design is vital to ensure development contributes to NSW’s emissions reduction targets and supports the State’s electricity sector transition.
The Net Zero Commission’s submission proposes four principles to guide data centre development in NSW:
- Data centres should fund new renewable energy generation commensurate with their demand, ensuring genuine additionality.
- Data centres should actively contribute to grid reliability by limiting energy consumption during peak periods and offering demand response capacity during system stress events.
- Data centres should meet world-leading standards for energy and water efficiency, with ongoing public reporting to ensure compliance.
- The most suitable location for data centres should be determined, with regional locations actively considered where workloads are not genuinely latency-sensitive.
The submission is not intended as a report under the Act.
An accessible version will be available in the coming week.