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  • 16 hours ago
Data centres in New South Wales will have to buy renewable energy and transition to recycled water under a plan announced by the state government. In return, they'll be offered faster planning assessments, as the state courts billions of dollars in new investment.

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00:01New South Wales has more data centres than anywhere else in the country.
00:06There are 60 already and another 19 in the pipeline, worth about $50 billion.
00:11So it's a massive source of investment for New South Wales.
00:15But they're also hungry for electricity and thirsty for water.
00:19And it's safe to say they're not universally loved by the communities in which they pop up.
00:24So today the New South Wales government has released its expectations essentially for data centres if the companies who are
00:31proposing them want fast approval.
00:34So when it comes to energy they're going to need to fund the cost of connections.
00:38And also enter into agreements with renewable energy companies to cover the electricity that they'll be using.
00:45And there will be a requirement that 40% of that renewable energy comes from wind power.
00:50By 2030 data centres could take up 11% of energy needs in New South Wales.
00:56That's a challenge but it's also an opportunity for us to underpin greater renewable energy investment into the future.
01:02When it comes to water there will be an independent review to ensure that the prices that data centre companies
01:09are paying actually reflect the cost of servicing them.
01:12And if data centres are using drinking water then they'll have to offset that by funding additional water supplies or
01:19water efficiency programs.
01:21But there will be an expectation that data centres do transition to recycled water.
01:26So that households and data centres are not drawing water from the same water source.
01:30When we start seeing water scarcity on our potable water side, recycled water will mean that the data centres are
01:37not drawing on water that households would otherwise be using.
01:40That's a really important element that is at the heart of this framework.
01:45Also among the requirements will be an expectation that data centre companies contribute in some way to the community.
01:52If the government's list of demands are met then it's promising to assess these projects within 75 days.
02:0037.
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