Data centres seeking connection to NSW’s power grid now exceed about triple the state’s present average daily demand at a time when aging coal-fired power stations are nearing closure, adding to the urgency of introducing new rules for the sector, a government webinar on Monday heard.
Details of the sheer size of the queue for new connections were outlined during the public session aimed at prompting feedback by 14 September to the state’s new guidelines for the sector released last week.
Among the highlighted issues was the proposal to charge new data centres a “default rate” of as much as $200,000 per megawatt of capacity for connection to the network.
While, “the NSW government supports world-class data centre investment,” the task of absorbing the huge power demands in the pipeline increasingly resembles a cobra trying to ingest a not so small herd of elephants when it comes to the state absorbing the new power demands in the pipeline.
As of last month, data centres were seeking network connections with a total capacity of 28 gigawatts, of which 13 GW of capacity were in advanced discussions to connect, according to a consultation paper issued by the state’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) .“For comparison, average daily demand from the electricity grid in NSW typically ranges between 7.5 GW and 10 GW,” the paper noted.
