At a glance
CDC Data Centres has offered Wagga Wagga a community benefits package worth up to A$225 million for its proposed 1.4GW, A$15 billion campus at Gregadoo, announced on 13 October 2026.
Wagga Wagga City Council, which owns the site, voted on 12 October to sell it to CDC on condition of a binding agreement worth at least 1 per cent of the development cost, about A$150 million.
CDC has proposed a further A$75 million for housing, sport, education, the arts and community infrastructure across the region.
AirTrunk's offer at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter also comes to about 1 per cent of its project's reported A$3.7 billion cost.
IREN announced a second Gregadoo campus, the 900MW Redbank, on 14 October 2026, with more than A$200 million in payments to the council over 30 years.
Wagga Wagga City Council has set a benchmark for what a data centre gives the town that hosts it. The council will sell CDC Data Centres the land for its proposed Gregadoo campus only if CDC commits to community benefits worth at least 1 per cent of the build cost. CDC has offered up to A$225 million. AirTrunk's offer at Kurri Kurri and IREN's new proposal near Wagga Wagga are the closest figures to compare it with.
CDC announced on 13 October 2026 a community benefits package worth up to A$225 million for its proposed 1.4GW campus at Gregadoo, 11km south of Wagga Wagga. It has two parts. The first is a voluntary planning agreement with the council, the contract NSW councils use to hold a developer to a commitment, worth at least 1 per cent of the development cost across the whole project. The second is a further A$75 million from CDC for community initiatives across the region. Both depend on the project being approved and proceeding as planned.
Wagga Wagga City Council has tied what CDC gives the town to what the campus costs to build: at least 1 per cent, or about A$150 million. "This is not about building a data centre and walking away," CDC founder and chief executive Greg Boorer said. "If this project proceeds, the community should see real, visible and lasting benefits from the investment."
The council made 1 per cent a condition of selling the land
The site at 232 Ashfords Road belongs to the council, which acquired it for the future expansion of the Gregadoo Waste Management Centre next door. At its ordinary meeting on 12 October 2026, in closed session, the council authorised its general manager to enter a contract to sell the land to CDC, About Regional reported. Any sale contract will require CDC to sign a binding agreement providing community benefits equivalent to at least 1 per cent of the estimated A$15 billion cost over the life of the project.
Mayor Dallas Tout said the resolution was a commercial decision, separate from planning. "It was a business decision regarding the sale of land; it wasn't a planning decision to be made by council," he told The Daily Advertiser. He said the resolution carried "another three or four ensuring clauses to cover off on community benefits", and called the project an opportunity for "multiple generations". A master plan for the waste centre is under way to confirm the land it will need in future.
Because the council is the landowner, the 1 per cent is written into a sale contract, which runs separately from the state's assessment of the campus. The NSW data centre guidelines published in August 2026 ask for benefit sharing "designed in partnership with councils" and proportionate to a project's scale, and keep it out of the development application itself. The NSW Minister for Planning or a delegate decides the State Significant Development application, and the council's project page says it will keep its role as landowner separate from its technical advice to the state.
The A$75 million goes to priorities residents help choose
CDC said the money could support housing, sport and recreation, arts and culture, education and skills, workforce development, environmental improvements and community infrastructure, with local people helping to identify priorities. Its Gregadoo project page says it is working to make sure new jobs do not put downward pressure on the region's housing stock.
Boorer has put the campus at about 1,500 construction jobs, 200 ongoing CDC roles and up to 2,000 jobs in the wider economy, About Regional reported. The scoping report sets out a skills program with Charles Sturt University, TAFE NSW and local schools, which Boorer described when he called Wagga Wagga the best site in New South Wales for the campus. CDC ran an information session at the Transgrid Discovery Hub in Wagga Wagga on 14 October.
AirTrunk's Kurri Kurri offer also comes to about 1 per cent
CDC's offer sits alongside three other regional campuses with a community figure on the record.
Campus | Proposed scale | Community money offered |
|---|---|---|
CDC, Gregadoo, Wagga Wagga | 1.4GW, about A$15bn | At least A$150m (1%) plus A$75m, up to A$225m |
IREN, Redbank, Wagga Wagga | 900MW, more than A$10bn | More than A$200m over 30 years, including council rates |
AirTrunk, Loxford, Kurri Kurri | 540MW, A$3.7bn | More than A$37m for district infrastructure, plus a community battery |
IREN, Bundey, South Australia | 800MW | Grants of $250,000 a year, currency not stated |
Source: CDC, 13 October 2026; Wagga Wagga City Council via About Regional, 13 October 2026; Capital Brief and The Daily Advertiser, 14 October 2026; W.Media, 21 September 2026; Capital Brief, 2 September 2026. Figures are as each developer states them and are not paid on the same basis.
AirTrunk has submitted a draft offer to Cessnock City Council of more than A$37 million towards district infrastructure for its 540MW Kurri Kurri campus, including more than A$12 million for the proposed Loxford District Sporting and Multipurpose Community Facility. A community battery developed with Origin Energy would take A$200 a year off participating households' power bills. Against the A$3.7 billion cost W.Media reported, the A$37 million is 1 per cent, on Certified Strategic's calculations.
AirTrunk's draft offer at Kurri Kurri and the council's condition at Gregadoo both come to about 1 per cent of build cost. IREN's Redbank figure includes council rates, which every landowner pays, so it measures something different.
IREN's Redbank would sit beside CDC at Gregadoo
IREN, the Sydney-founded, Nasdaq-listed AI compute provider, shared early plans for Redbank on 14 October 2026, a day after CDC's announcement. The 900MW campus would cost more than A$10 billion, be built in stages over six to eight years and target a grid connection in 2029, with a scoping report to the NSW planning department due at the end of October, Capital Brief reported. IREN said on X that the project sits outside its announced 5GW portfolio of secured power.
IREN forecasts more than 500 construction jobs and more than 200 ongoing full-time positions, a closed-loop cooling system and contracts for new generation and storage to cover its own demand, The Daily Advertiser reported. It plans a workers' camp on the site so construction does not add to demand for housing in Wagga Wagga. "Data centres are the real-world physical infrastructure that powers our daily lives," IREN executive director Lindsay Ward said.
Together the two Gregadoo proposals come to 2.3GW, more than the 1.6GW of data centre capacity operating across Australia combined, on Data Centres Australia and Mandala figures. CDC's site is 1.3km from Transgrid's Wagga Wagga terminal station, which was upgraded for EnergyConnect, the transmission link between New South Wales and South Australia, and IREN says Redbank would connect to the existing high-voltage network. Transgrid's 2026 planning report listed the Wagga area among places that could host large new electricity users, while existing capacity in Sydney is largely committed.
Wagga Wagga MP Joe McGirr wants benefits for the community
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for a halt to CDC's proposal, The Daily Advertiser reported. Independent Member for Wagga Wagga Joe McGirr told the ABC that lessons from the state's renewable energy rollout should apply. "You've got to genuinely engage with the community, you've got to address community concerns, and you've got to make sure communities get benefits," he said. The Wagga Ratepayers and Residents Association says it is neither for nor against the data centres and wants to hear more from both companies.
The federal government has been reported to be considering a mandatory community benefit fund since July 2026, and National Cabinet agreed on 26 August 2026 to develop mandatory national standards for data centre energy, water and land use, which the Commonwealth intends to legislate in early 2027. In Queensland, Western Downs Regional Council opened talks in September on a community benefit agreement for Zerra DC's campus at Kogan.
We expect 1 per cent of build cost to become the figure other NSW councils open negotiations with, because Wagga Wagga has written it into a sale contract and AirTrunk's draft offer at Kurri Kurri comes to the same share.
What to watch
The sale contract. The council has authorised its general manager to sign. The contract will set how the 1 per cent is paid as CDC builds its four buildings in stages.
The planning agreement. Councils must publicly notify a draft planning agreement for at least 28 days before it is entered into, under NSW rules, which would put the terms of CDC's agreement on the record.
IREN's scoping report. Due at the end of October, it will show whether Redbank's payments to the council carry a share of build cost, and IREN holds drop-in sessions in Wagga Wagga on 4 and 5 November.
CDC's assessment requirements. The planning department is preparing the list of matters CDC's environmental impact statement must cover, the next step in a state assessment expected to take about 12 months, About Regional reported.
The national standards. The Commonwealth's draft will show whether a payment to host communities joins energy, water and land use among the rules every data centre builds to.