At a glance
IREN, the Sydney-founded AI cloud company listed on Nasdaq, shared early plans on 14 October 2026 for Redbank, a proposed 900MW data centre campus near Wagga Wagga in regional New South Wales.
Redbank would cost more than A$10 billion, be built in stages over six to eight years and target a grid connection in 2029, Capital Brief reported.
It is the second large campus proposed for Gregadoo, on Wagga Wagga's southern outskirts, after CDC Data Centres' plan for up to 1.4GW in September, The Daily Advertiser reported.
Transgrid's 2026 planning report says Sydney's grid capacity is largely committed, and names Wagga Wagga as a region that could offer comparable connections for large electricity users.
IREN plans to lodge a scoping report with the NSW planning department at the end of October and will hold community sessions in Wagga Wagga on 4 and 5 November.
IREN, the Sydney-founded AI cloud company listed on Nasdaq, shared early plans with the Wagga Wagga community on 14 October 2026 for a 900MW data centre campus it calls Redbank. It is the second large data centre proposed for Wagga Wagga in a month. In September, CDC Data Centres lodged plans for a campus of up to 1.4GW at Gregadoo, on the city’s southern outskirts. Redbank would sit in the same area, The Daily Advertiser reported.
Both companies cite the city's transmission network, which Transgrid is expanding. Transgrid, which owns the NSW high-voltage network, says capacity in Sydney is largely committed, and has named Wagga Wagga as a region that could offer comparable connections for large electricity users once new lines are built.
IREN builds and runs its own data centres and rents the NVIDIA computing inside them to AI developers, with Microsoft and NVIDIA among its customers. Redbank would be its second Australian campus, after the 800MW site it is developing at Bundey in South Australia.
Together the two Wagga Wagga proposals come to as much as 2.3GW on the companies' own figures, more than the 1.6GW of data centre capacity operating across Australia, as counted by Data Centres Australia and Mandala Partners in August 2026. Both campuses would be built in stages over most of a decade, and both need NSW Government approval.
IREN plans to spend more than A$10bn on Redbank
IREN expects to spend more than A$10 billion on Redbank and is targeting a grid connection in 2029, Capital Brief reported, citing the company. It plans to lodge a scoping report, the first document in the NSW approval process for large projects, with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure at the end of October.
The company said it was releasing the plans before that report so local residents have information first. "Redbank is in the early assessment phase. IREN is working toward a grid connection, and the project is not included in our announced 5GW secured-power portfolio," IREN said on 14 October.
IREN says Redbank would fund its own connection to the high-voltage network and contract new generation and storage projects to cover its power requirements, The Daily Advertiser reported. The company forecasts more than 500 construction jobs and more than 200 ongoing full-time roles, and plans a workers' camp on the site so construction does not add to demand for housing in Wagga Wagga.
A closed-loop cooling system would recirculate the same water, which IREN compares to a car radiator. Filling it would take about three megalitres every six months during the staged build, with annual top-ups below 1 per cent of the system's volume once full. IREN has also forecast more than A$200 million in payments to Wagga Wagga City Council over 30 years, covering a community benefit fund, local infrastructure and council rates.
"We are attracted to the site as it is not on prime agricultural land, it's near an electricity network and Wagga has all the required support services," IREN executive director Lindsay Ward told The Daily Advertiser.
Transgrid names Wagga Wagga among regions that could host large users
Transgrid published its 2026 Transmission Annual Planning Report on 10 September. The report says Transgrid has received connection enquiries totalling about 20GW of demand, roughly twice the state's current peak. "Existing capacity within the Sydney region is now largely committed," the report says, and meaningful new capacity there waits on projects due in the mid-2030s.
The same report names Wagga Wagga, with the Hunter, as a region that "could offer large-load connection opportunities comparable to those available in the Sydney region". Transgrid makes that conditional on targeted upgrades and on HumeLink, the high-voltage line it is building between Wagga Wagga, Bannaby and Maragle, which the report expects in service by late 2027. HumeLink's western section expands the Wagga Wagga 330kV substation at Gregadoo, a major node on the state's high-voltage grid that Transgrid upgraded earlier for EnergyConnect, the new link between New South Wales and South Australia.
Transgrid says its regional capacity map does not account for generation, and it is advocating for legislation requiring data centres to invest in generation equivalent to their demand. IREN says it will contract new generation and storage to cover Redbank's power requirements, and CDC has committed to renewable supply for its Gregadoo campus.
CDC and IREN would put 2.3GW near Wagga Wagga
IREN Redbank | CDC Gregadoo | |
|---|---|---|
Capacity | 900MW | Up to 1.4GW |
Estimated cost | More than A$10bn | About A$15bn |
Construction | Staged over six to eight years | Four buildings, six to 10 years |
Jobs | 500-plus construction, 200-plus ongoing | About 1,500 construction, at least 200 at CDC |
Grid | Existing high-voltage network, connection funded by IREN | 1.3km from the Wagga Wagga 330kV terminal station |
Planning stage | Scoping report due end of October | Scoping report lodged, assessment requirements being prepared |
Source: Capital Brief and The Daily Advertiser, 14 October 2026; CDC scoping report, 16 September 2026; NSW Planning Portal (SSD-144289240); Region Riverina, 8 October 2026. Capacity figures are as each company states them and may not be measured on the same basis.
CDC's scoping report puts its campus on about 104 hectares off Ashfords Road, 11km south of the city centre, and CDC has offered a community benefits package worth up to A$225 million, with Wagga Wagga City Council requiring at least 1 per cent of the build cost as a condition of selling the land. CDC founder and chief executive Greg Boorer has called Wagga Wagga the best site in New South Wales for the campus, pointing to its grid and its locally trained workforce.
Redbank would be IREN's second Australian campus after Bundey
IREN was founded in Sydney in 2018 by brothers Daniel and Will Roberts, who now serve as co-chief executives. It runs campuses in British Columbia and at Childress, Texas, and in November 2025 signed a contract with Microsoft worth about US$9.7 billion for AI computing at Childress. In May 2026 it added a US$3.4 billion AI cloud contract with NVIDIA.
Its first Australian project is an 800MW campus at Bundey, north-east of Adelaide, announced in June 2026. The transmission agreement there provides four 330kV connection points, with power from 2028. With Redbank, IREN's two Australian proposals come to 1.7GW.
Wagga Wagga MP Joe McGirr wants guardrails and community benefits
Independent Member for Wagga Wagga Joe McGirr told The Daily Advertiser the projects needed "high-quality guardrails and community benefits systems in place". The Wagga Ratepayers and Residents Association, which says it is neither for nor against the proposals, has asked for more information. A change.org petition opposing CDC's Ashfords Road proposal had 5,089 signatures on 14 October.
The NSW Minister for Planning or a delegate decides both projects as State Significant Developments, the state's approval track for large projects, and a council spokesperson told The Daily Advertiser the state government assesses and determines them. The state's data centre guidelines, published in August 2026, ask that projects impose no net cost on consumers and communities.
What to watch
IREN's scoping report. Due at the end of October, it should set out Redbank's exact site, land area and capacity basis.
HumeLink. Transgrid expects the line in service by late 2027, and its delivery underpins the regional connection capacity the planning report describes for Wagga Wagga.
The community sessions. IREN holds drop-in sessions in Wagga Wagga on 4 and 5 November, with venues and times still to be advertised.
CDC's assessment requirements. The planning department is preparing the list of matters CDC's environmental impact statement must cover, the next step for the larger of the two Wagga Wagga campuses.