Data centres are essential infrastructure but the current planning system is inadequate to address their rapid growth, according to a raft of submissions to a New South Wales Parliamentary inquiry.
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Proposals should be evaluated on their net system‑level value, the Justice and Equity Centre says in its submission, including impacts on reliability, affordability, flexibility, sustainability/resilience and environmental outcomes.
“Without clear expectations, policy – through ad-hoc approvals – risks drifting toward reactive, project‑by‑project decisions that fail to account for broader system impacts. It also risks acting to accommodate all data centre ‘opportunities’, assuming a benefit which is not demonstrated and is unlikely to be realised,” the Justice and Equity Centre says.
