The Gregadoo data centre site plan. Photo: EJE Architects 2026.
The Wagga Residents and Ratepayers Association is demanding proper consultation and full transparency over a proposed giant $15 billion data centre campus at Gregadoo.
Wagga Wagga City Council announced the proposal on Wednesday (30 September), saying Canberra-based CDC Data Centres had lodged plans for a massive campus at 216 Ashfords Road, Gregadoo, next to the tip.
CDC is a major Australian data centre operator, with facilities in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Auckland. Its data centres house powerful computers and servers that store and process the digital information behind services such as online banking, government systems and other online services.
The proposed Gregadoo campus would cover about 63 hectares – roughly 90 AFL football fields – within a 104-hectare site, with four buildings containing about 189,000 square metres of floor space.
At full capacity, it could require up to 1.4 gigawatts of electricity, making it an industrial-scale power user.
The project is being assessed as a state significant development, meaning the NSW Government is the final decision-maker, not Wagga Council.
The NSW Government planning process is only at the early stage of preparing the requirements for CDC’s environmental assessment. If the project progresses, a detailed environmental impact statement will be prepared and put on public exhibition before the NSW Government assesses the proposal and makes a decision.
“The proposal represents a potentially generational economic, investment and workforce opportunity for Wagga Wagga and the wider region,” Wagga Council said in a statement.
“If approved and delivered, an investment of this scale has the potential to generate significant construction activity over a number of years, support local contractors and suppliers, create skilled ongoing employment and provide opportunities for education, training and workforce development.”
But Wagga Residents and Ratepayers Association president Chris Roche said the sheer size of the proposal meant the community needed to be given clear information.
“We were made aware of the potential of the data centre by the mayor,” he said.
“We were told it was newer technology and it won’t be as noisy or use as much water as previous models.
“We enquired about the location address of an existing similar data centre in Canberra so we could check, but were told that was confidential, which seems ridiculous.”
Mr Roche said previous major energy projects in Wagga had left residents feeling that community feedback had been ignored.
Similar data centre projects in other parts of NSW have attracted objections from nearby residents over issues including 24-hour noise from cooling equipment, diesel generator testing, air emissions, water use, traffic and the sheer scale of the facilities.
The Gregadoo project plans include up to 384 diesel backup generators and about 6400 tonnes of diesel storage. The generators would be used as emergency backup rather than to power the data centre during normal operations.
CDC says its generators would run infrequently and are designed to minimise noise and emissions.
The company says it chose the location because of its access to major electricity infrastructure, high-speed internet and distance from homes. It added that the site is about 1.3 kilometres from the Wagga Wagga Terminal Station and that it would pay for its own electricity connection and any required network augmentation.
CDC also says the project could create hundreds of construction jobs and ongoing skilled jobs, and that it intends to use local workers and suppliers where possible.
The company says it is committed to community consultation as the project progresses.
Further information on the proposal is provided on the NSW Planning Proposal website.
