Special Report
Understanding Australia's data centre build-out
Data centres in the National Electricity Market are forecast to use more electricity than every home in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart combined.
Chapters
Where Australia's data centres are
We update this page as new projects are announced and new data is released. Pick a city on the map to see its totals.
Data centres by stage
Bigger circles mean more electricity capacity, in megawatts (MW).
A dashed outline means only the town or city is known, so the location is approximate.
Show stages (select to hide or show)
Source: Facility list compiled by IBISWorld from company, planning and media sources, October 2026. Where an operator does not publish a site's capacity, IBISWorld estimates it from published rack counts or campus totals; these are labelled as estimates. Locations are approximate. Client details come from company announcements and media reports; labels show where a link is reported but not confirmed.
FAQs
What is the difference between capacity and electricity use?
Capacity, in megawatts (MW), is the most power a site is designed to draw at one time, usually once it is fully built. Electricity use, in terawatt hours (TWh), is how much it actually draws over a year.
The two are far apart. Sites fill up over five to ten years and keep spare capacity in reserve. AEMO estimates that operating data centres used about 27% of their maximum grid connection in early 2026, and expects a mature fleet to average 45% to 51%. For scale, a 100 MW site running flat out all year would use about 0.9 TWh.
How does AEMO forecast data centre electricity use?
AEMO, assisted by Oxford Economics Australia, combines project-level information from developers and network businesses with an economic outlook for digital services and AI. It weights each project by how likely it is to go ahead, then averages that with the economic outlook.
The pipeline AEMO sees is large and changes quickly. In 2026, 225 projects with 67 gigawatts (GW) of proposed connection capacity were in the connection process in the NEM, up from 38 GW in AEMO's previous count. About 36% of the projects on AEMO's 2025 list have since been cancelled.
Why is the capacity on the map so much bigger than the forecast?
The map adds up announced capacity at full build-out, including projects that may be delayed, downsized or never built. AEMO's forecast discounts projects by their likelihood of going ahead and allows for sites running well below their maximum. Both views are useful: the map shows what is proposed, the forecast what AEMO expects to be used.
What is the ESOO, and when is the next one?
The Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO) is AEMO's yearly outlook for the National Electricity Market (NEM). Its reliability outlook covers 10 years; the consumption forecasts behind it, used in the charts here, run to 2049-50. The 2026 edition was published in August 2026, using information as at 1 July 2026. The next edition is expected in 2027.
The charts use AEMO's Step Change scenario, which AEMO describes as the most likely.
Why do the forecasts cover only some states?
The ESOO covers the NEM, the grid serving Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Western Australia has its own outlook, and the Northern Territory is not part of the NEM. The map and its totals include sites in all states and territories, so they cover more than the forecast does.
How is the household comparison worked out?
It multiplies the number of households in each capital at the 2021 Census by average household electricity use under the 2026-27 regulated default offers. Canberra uses an older 2020 benchmark, as no recent figure was found. It is a rough guide to scale, not a precise measure.
What do the ABS building figures cover?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has no separate category for data centres. The figures use the category that includes them, which also contains some other types of commercial building. Values are in current dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Where do the site capacities come from?
From company announcements, planning documents and media reports. Where an operator does not publish a site's capacity, IBISWorld estimates it from published rack counts or campus totals, and labels it as an estimate. Sites with no reliable figure are left out of the totals.