The inquiry that decides how the AI build-out lands in Sydney.
The NSW Parliament's data-centre inquiry is the live, public test of whether the build-out's grid and heat impact can be governed transparently. It's the case study Pulse Horizon was built for. The same hex layer that shows where heat hits Sydney hardest also shows where the new clusters are landing. Two questions, one canvas. This page is the read-along. Submissions and transcripts are on the NSW Parliament page ↗
What's being scrutinised, and why it matters.
The Legislative Council's Public Accountability and Works Committee opened the inquiry to examine the data-centre build-out across NSW: operating sites, sites under construction, and the announced pipeline. The terms of reference reach into power demand, water use, ESG governance, social impact, and the absence of a sector-specific regulator. Hearings run open, transcripts are published, submissions are public.
What makes it the right case study for Pulse Horizon: every issue raised in the room (grid headroom, cooling load, planning consent, suburb-level impact) is something the live hex layer measures already, and the local stakes are concrete. Penrith Council told the inquiry that 55% of December 2025 ran above 30°C. The data isn't missing. The stitching is.
- ~2GW
Kemps Creek cluster alone
Roughly 2 GW disclosed; 400 MW operating today plus 1.57 GW announced or under construction. One cluster, the equivalent draw of roughly 4.5 million Sydney homes.
Live readNSW grid demand checking… MW (spot …). A 2 GW continuous cluster would be roughly … of right-now demand.Source: NSW Planning Portal · IPART 2025 · Oxford Economics for AEMO
“Construction and operation of a data centre campus with a power capacity of 1 GW including six four-storey data centre buildings, 936 cooling units, 852 diesel back-up generators and 14,430 kl of diesel storage, internal roads and car parking.” NSW Planning Portal, Mamre Road Data Centre Campus, SSD-92743706
“A typical household is assumed to: use 3,900 kWh of electricity each year (the average usage level in the Ausgrid distribution network).” IPART, Solar feed-in benchmark ranges 2025-26 (Final Report, May 2025)
“Calibration caveat (our note, not a quote): AEMO's commissioned modelling estimates only ~6 GW of roughly 44 GW of Australian data-centre connection enquiries is expected to materialise under the Step Change scenario, with the remainder reflecting double-counted hyperscaler enquiries (phantom demand). We treat the disclosed Kemps Creek figures (2 GW + 1.57 GW announced) as upper-bound until commissioning data confirms each phase.” Pulse Horizon methodology note — informed by Oxford Economics for AEMO, Data Centre Energy Consumption Report (July 2025)
- 78%
Cumberland LGA above the basin mean
On the V2 heat-vulnerability composite (0.558 vs basin mean 0.313). Shares boundaries with two of the largest western data-centre clusters in the corridor.
Independent evidence: WSROC · Sweltering Cities
“Heat impacts are particularly pronounced in Western Sydney, due to a combination of climate change, local geography, and rapid urbanisation – where greening makes way for new housing developments.” WSROC, Turn Down the Heat strategy
“We are concerned that suburbs such as Marsden Park, Eastern Creek, and Kemps Creek, which are already some of Sydney's hottest suburbs, will now house these major data centres.” Sweltering Cities, 21 April 2026
- 25%
Sydney drinking water by 2035
Sydney Water expects data-centre water use to grow from under 1% of drinking-water supply today to about 25% (around 250 ML/day) by 2035 if the announced pipeline lands as filed.
Live readSydney dam system checking… full. Data-centre share of supply today: <1%. Projected by 2035: ~25%.Source: Greens NSW · The Saturday Paper
“The latest estimates predict data centres will take up to 25% of Sydney's drinking water supply, and consume 11% of all energy produced.” Greens NSW media release, 29 January 2026
- 5
Big new clusters in the western corridor
Kemps Creek, Eastern Creek, Huntingwood, Erskine Park, Horsley Park. Six if you count Macquarie Park to the north.
Source: operator confirmations · NEXTDC · CDC
“Planned for Eastern Creek, S7 Sydney is a future 550MW+ hyperscale data centre designed to support the next wave of AI, cloud and digital infrastructure demand across New South Wales and the broader region.” NEXTDC, S7 Sydney (Eastern Creek)
“We have received State Significant Development approval from the NSW Government, and we are currently mobilising the team in preparation for site commencement in the coming weeks.” NEXTDC, S4 Horsley Park (conditions of consent page)
“Our second Sydney campus at Marsden Park is set to become the largest in the southern hemisphere, providing over 504 MW of planned capacity with scalability towards one gigawatt.” CDC Sydney (Marsden Park campus)
- 3,678
Hex cells on the Sydney basin
Every public layer (heat, vulnerability, fires, grid, transport, DC build-out) rolls up to the same hex grid, refreshed every 15 minutes.
- 37
LGAs in the basin
Sydney-basin LGA polygons with per-LGA V2 sensitivity rollups joined from the hex layer. Per-LGA rollups let council-level questions be read off the map.
Three overlays the inquiry questions all land on.
Each call-out below deep-links to the live overlay on Sydney Live. Read them in order, inventory, vulnerability, live incidents, and the inquiry's central tension reads off the page.
Three observations the data keeps making.
- +78%
The build-out lands hardest where the basin can least absorb it.
Cumberland sits 78% above the basin mean on V2Heat-vulnerability composite, version 2Our second-generation per-hex sensitivity score. Combines deprivation, housing stress, canopy and recency-of-arrival., and shares boundaries with the two largest western data-centre clusters. Canterbury-Bankstown and Burwood follow.
The four LGAs this case study calls out, shown on a Sydney basin schematic. Open them on Sydney Live → - 400 MWMegawattA million watts. One large data centre cluster can draw hundreds of MW continuously.
Heat is a network problem too.
A heatwave is also a grid-strain day. Add a 400 MWMegawattA million watts. One large data centre cluster can draw hundreds of MW continuously. cluster to a network already loaded and you change cooling-load and operator-decision stories at once. The hex layer shows both.
- 6 feeds
The data exists. The reading is the work.
Bureau of Meteorology, AEMOAustralian Energy Market OperatorRuns the national electricity and gas markets. Grid demand and price signals on the map come from AEMO feeds., AusgridAusgridThe distribution network operator for eastern Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter. Their live outage feed powers the outages overlay on the map., NSW Planning, ABSAustralian Bureau of StatisticsThe national statistics agency. Census + vulnerability composites on the map use ABS data., NSW Health. The question is who gets to read them next to each other, and whether the read is supervised. That's the bit MattMatt ShoreCo-founder. Engineer with twenty-plus years across AI infrastructure and software platforms. The technology + AI lens on every layer., SamSam BotterillCo-founder. Decentralised energy and regulation specialist with twenty-plus years inside the sector. The energy + sustainability lens on every layer. and the SMEsSubject-Matter ExpertSomeone with deep, field-specific experience. We use SMEs to review every layer before it ships. we trust won't automate away.
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