New South Wales: Data Centre Guidelines Published

In August 2026, the New South Wales (NSW) government released its Data Centre Guidelines (the Guidelines), setting out how the state intends to balance rapid growth in data centre investment with the resource, environmental and community impacts that this growth brings. Although the Guidelines are not legislation, they signal the criteria against which the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) will assess data centre proposals and are intended to give proponents a faster, more predictable and transparent pathway for state significant development (SSD).

The Guidelines serve a dual function in assisting data centre proponents to put forward compliant development proposals that satisfy assessment expectations, subsequently improving approval timeframes and strengthening public confidence that the state’s energy and water resources will be used efficiently, while risks to reliability and security are managed. A central theme put forward by the state government