Council
1 October, 2026
Data centres not a priority: Yass Valley
Yass has been identified as one of only three locations in regional NSW with enough electricity capacity for a large-scale data centre development.
Yass has been identified as one of only three locations in regional NSW with enough electricity capacity for a large-scale data centre development.
Transgrid has identified Yass, Wagga and Newcastle as capable of hosting 1-2GW data centre connections based on August 2026 data.
Marulan has been identified in Transgrid’s 2026 Transmission Annual Planning Report as having the capacity for a smaller 0.5-1GW connection.
According to the report, data centres are expected to become an “increasingly important component” of NSW electricity demand over the next 10 years.
Existing capacity within the Sydney region is now largely committed; however, Transgrid says locating new data centres closer to renewable energy generation – such as near Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) – can reduce transmission congestion, improve utilisation of existing infrastructure and “more efficiently integrate new renewable energy into the power system while supporting regional economic growth”.
Yass Valley Council has expressed concern over the move and will seek clarification from Transgrid “on the basis for this identification and whether any specific proponents or connection inquiries have informed it and why only data centres have been singled out for access”.
It will also ask the NSW Government and Transgrid to ensure that large-scale data centres be directed towards the “greater user base” such as Sydney or “appropriate and willing host regions with surplus water, industrial land, infrastructure and emergency-management capacity noting our region’s significant contribution already by hosting State Significant Development (SSD) energy projects already constructed or approved”.
Council also resolved at its September 24 meeting on the motion of mayor Jasmin Jones to affirm that its priority “is to protect the water security, housing capacity, agricultural productivity, employment opportunities and liveability of our growing community”.
Cr Jones said Yass Valley should only welcome investment that creates genuine, diverse and sustainable regional jobs, that doesn’t compete unfairly with current and future human needs such as water security, housing, agricultural-tourism and employment lands nor undermine local prosperity through established economic activities.
Cr Jones said a 1GW data centre was “not a small a facility”.
For comparison, the proposed Mamre Road data centre campus in Western Sydney is approximately 52 hectares, with around 400,000 square metres of floor space, six four-storey buildings, 936 cooling units and 852 diesel back-up generators.
“A 1-2GW facility in Yass Valley could therefore represent a very substantial industrial campus, with significant land, power, water, cooling, noise, traffic, infrastructure and emergency-management requirements,” the Mayor said.
Cr Jones said the water supply allocation from Yass Dam had already been allocated for identified residential development contained within the existing Settlement Strategy.
Any additional water requirements outside of the existing identified development outcomes cannot be supplied from Yass Dam without compromising either the existing residential supply or restricting future residential growth.
Cr Jones said a 2GW data centre could use as much as 30 times more than Yass’s existing annual town water requirement.
She said any proposal for a data centre would need to demonstrate a secure, independent and sustainable water source and must not rely on Yass’s existing potable water supply or compromise future residential growth or employment lands.
Cr Jones said the Yass Valley had “finite land” and the land suitable for employment, agriculture and housing “should not be sterilised for a single highly specialised industrial use without understanding what we are giving up”.
Speaking to her Notice of Motion, Cr Jones said there was a need to ‘shark cage’ potential data centre applications and make sure they ended up in industrial estates and not on valuable agricultural land.
She said they were power-hungry and would destroy the LGA’s amenity.
“If we are forced to host this infrastructure, it should pay its way,” she said.
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