At a glance
CDC Data Centres chief executive Greg Boorer said on 1 October 2026 that Wagga Wagga is the best location in New South Wales for its A$15 billion, 1.4GW campus.
He cited the power network in the region, nearby zones set aside for wind and solar farms, and a workforce trained locally.
Boorer said CDC has never used water in the primary cooling of its data centres, relying on closed-loop systems that recirculate the same water.
CDC's planning filing records the nearest home about 250 metres from the development area, beyond the 150-metre minimum Victoria announced on 22 September 2026.
Boorer backed strict national standards for every developer, ahead of the Commonwealth's plan to legislate them in early 2027.
CDC Data Centres, the Canberra-based operator whose campuses are listed in the directory of Australian data centres, wants to build a campus of up to 1.4GW at Gregadoo, on council-owned rural land beside the Wagga Wagga landfill, about 11km south of the city centre. That compares with about 1.6GW of capacity across all the data centres in Australia in operation, on figures Data Centres Australia and Mandala published in August 2026. The four buildings would cost about A$15 billion, and CDC lodged its scoping report, the first planning document setting out the proposal, with the NSW planning department in September 2026.
Boorer, CDC's founder, made the case for the site on ABC Radio National Breakfast on 1 October 2026. The interview followed Goodman Group's confirmation on 28 September that it had withdrawn its Project Mars data centre at Lane Cove West, in Sydney's north.
Boorer said the lessons for the sector are site selection and community engagement from the very start, and that CDC supports "a strict set of standards where proponents have to live up to those standards".
Grid capacity and a regional workforce drew CDC to Wagga Wagga
Boorer said that, working with Transgrid, which owns the high-voltage network across New South Wales, and the state government, there had been a push to spread the benefits of data centre growth into regional New South Wales. "Wagga is the best location in New South Wales for a major project of this nature," he said.
He gave three reasons. The region has existing electricity infrastructure. It sits near renewable energy zones, areas the NSW Government has set aside for new wind and solar farms and the power lines that carry their output. And it has a skilled workforce trained through Charles Sturt University and the TAFE system.
CDC's scoping report names the site's distance from Transgrid's Wagga Wagga terminal station, a major high-voltage substation 1.3km away, as "the primary reason" it was chosen, because a connection there needs no new transmission corridor. In its 2026 planning report, Transgrid said existing capacity in the Sydney region is largely committed, and listed the Wagga area among places that could take large new electricity users. The scoping report also sets out a skills program with Charles Sturt University, TAFE NSW and local schools, including apprenticeships and local-first hiring.
CDC cools its data centres with a closed loop
Asked by the program's host about water, a precious resource in parts of regional New South Wales, Boorer said he started the business 20 years ago and "we have never used water in the primary cooling of our data centres". CDC uses a closed-loop system, which recirculates the same water. He made the same point at the Data Center World Australia conference in Melbourne, Computer Weekly reported on 14 September 2026: CDC, which operates 20 data centres across Australia and New Zealand, chose closed-loop cooling from the outset.
CDC's filing for its 84MW Beard 2 building in Canberra, approved on 29 September 2026, describes the same design: the cooling water system becomes a closed loop once filled, "with no further water required". At Gregadoo, the scoping report commits to a cooling strategy that minimises drinking water use. Permanent water supply for the site is expected to come from an extension of a main run by Riverina Water, the local water utility, about 2.6km away.
The nearest home sits about 250 metres from the development area
Boorer said only a handful of homes are anywhere near the site, and that proximity to homes "is a significant concern, and something that we take seriously". The scoping report records a rural dwelling about 250 metres south of the proposed development area, and two more about 400 to 500 metres east of the proposed development footprint. Separation, access and amenity for those neighbours will be addressed in the environmental impact statement, the detailed study CDC lodges next.
All three are beyond the 150-metre minimum distance from homes that Victoria announced for new data centres on 22 September 2026. The buildings would cover about 63.4 of the site's 103.8 hectares.
CDC will model data centre noise with every cooling fan and chiller running at full capacity, against the NSW Environment Protection Authority's limits for industrial noise at nearby homes.
Boorer wants community engagement to shape the design
Boorer described reversing the usual order, so that community engagement comes first and shapes the design, the planning approach and the community benefit sharing programs. All of those, he said, "need to be done up front, as opposed to, as an afterthought".
At Gregadoo, the scoping report commits to direct engagement with surrounding landowners, the nearest residents, Wagga Wagga City Council, government agencies and Aboriginal stakeholders, documented in an outcomes report. Community information sessions are planned for mid-October, The Daily Advertiser, Wagga's daily newspaper, reported. The council has been in talks with CDC for nine months, the ABC reported on 30 September 2026. In a statement that day, the council called the proposal a potentially generational economic, investment and workforce opportunity for the region. The Wagga Residents and Ratepayers Association asked for proper consultation and full transparency, Region Riverina reported. The decision rests with the NSW Minister for Planning or a delegate, not the council.
CDC backs strict national standards for every developer
"I believe that the government is on the right track," Boorer said of the national standards being developed. He said experience in other countries shows that an industry seen as unregulated, or building without consulting communities, runs into problems. At the Melbourne conference he challenged the industry to hold itself to higher standards than governments set. CDC also says data centres should meet the full cost of their electricity connections, and it proposes to fund its own connection at Gregadoo.
National Cabinet, the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders, agreed on 26 August 2026 that the Commonwealth will develop mandatory standards for data centre energy, water and land use, to be legislated in early 2027. Gregadoo is being assessed under the NSW data centre guidelines, which offer a faster assessment to projects that meet the state's performance measures.
What to watch
The community sessions. Information sessions in Wagga Wagga are planned for mid-October, and the issues residents raise go into CDC's engagement outcomes report.
The assessment requirements. The planning department is preparing its list of what the environmental impact statement must cover, according to the NSW Planning Portal.
The environmental impact statement. It will address water demand, separation from nearby homes and the timing of each of the four buildings.
The national standards. The Commonwealth's draft will show whether Gregadoo, which is being assessed under NSW rules, would also have to meet the national ones.