The Legislative Council's Public Accountability and Works Committee sat for the fourth and final time on 29 May 2026, in the Macquarie Room at Parliament House. Eight panels gave evidence: the three NSW distribution networks together, the Clean Energy Council, the Business Council of Australia, the Water Minister, the UNSW AI Institute, the AIIA, a mechanical-trades contractor and Sweltering Cities. With evidence now closed, the Committee moves to report. This is the read-along. The full record is the uncorrected transcript ↗ on the NSW Parliament page.
Read the transcript (PDF) ↗ Back to the case study ←
This is an uncorrected transcript. Witnesses may later correct the record; quotes here should be read as provisional and checked against the final version when the Committee publishes it.
The final sitting opened with the three NSW distribution networks — AusgridAusgridThe distribution network operator for eastern Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter. Their live outage feed powers the outages overlay on the map., Endeavour and Essential Energy — appearing together for the first time. Their message: data centres are about 4% of operational load today and headed for 17–30% by 2040, growth “unlike anything we have ever seen,” and the grid that consumers already pay for has the headroom to carry it — if connection is coordinated. The Clean Energy Council and the Business Council argued the load can underwrite new renewables; the Water Minister defended the Government's consultation paper as a de-facto strategy; and Sweltering Cities closed the inquiry on the human cost in Western Sydney's hottest suburbs.
The through-line for Pulse Horizon is the same as the case study's: nearly every concern raised in the room (grid headroom, the true-demand pipeline, water draw, urban heat and the call for a coordinating body) is something the live hex layer already measures. Below, the day's recurring places are pinned on a live basemap, and the headline numbers are quoted from the transcript itself.
Ausgrid told the Committee data centres are about 4% of NSW operational load today and forecast to reach 17–30% by 2040 — described as growth 'unlike anything we have ever seen.'
“Today they account for approximately 4 per cent of operational load in New South Wales. By 2040 we predict that to rise to between 17 and 30 per cent. That kind of growth in that time frame is unlike anything we have ever seen.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
Ausgrid put its data-centre pipeline at 7.5 GW, of which 5.2 GW is already in planning assessment — against just ~2.2 GW it has forecast to AEMO, its conservative number. 'What happens in the next 18 months will really be telling.'
“AEMO's figures would probably be our conservative number that we say, 'Yes, we definitely think this is what's going to happen.' What happens in the next 18 months will really be telling to determine whether that number is going to be bigger than what we've put forward.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
Ausgrid's network is built for 10 GW but peaks at only 5–5.5 GW — and every customer already pays for the full 10. Each additional gigawatt of data-centre load spreads that fixed cost, cutting all customer bills by about $50.
“If these data centres were to come onto the Ausgrid network and use up one additional gigawatt of capacity on our network, that should reduce all customer bills by approximately $50.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
“It's like if you were to catch an Uber to the airport, but you decided to share the Uber with the other Committee members, you are spreading the cost. It's exactly the same.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
The Water Minister and her department confirmed currently approved and operating data centres use less than 1% of water demand. The contested figure is the build-out projection: Sydney Water modelling of up to 25% of drinking water — which IPART has dismissed, and which the Government says it is testing through consultation.
“Approved and operating data centres, we're at less than 1 per cent of water demand.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
“Yes, we are relying on Sydney Water's modelling. But we also recognise that other people have raised questions about it.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
Sydney Water received up to 90 data-centre inquiries in the last 12 months, and has entered into seven developer planning agreements — the process by which it gets granular on each centre's water demand and what the servicing will cost.
“Sydney Water receives a high number of inquiries — up to 90 inquiries just in the last 12 months — for data centres. … There have been seven of those agreements entered into between Sydney Water and data centre proponents.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
Endeavour already supplies about 20 data centres — around 900 MW of installed capacity, the typical daily demand of 1.2 million homes — and 11 of the 15 projects fast-tracked through the NSW Investment Delivery Authority sit within its network.
“We already supply about 20 data centres across our network, representing around 900 megawatts of installed capacity. … Of the 15 projects fast-tracked through the New South Wales Investment Delivery Authority, 11 are within our network.” PAWC, Data Centres inquiry, Hearing 4 (uncorrected transcript), 29 May 2026
Each map is a live basemap centred on a place named in evidence. The data-centre, heat and incident overlays for these areas sit on Sydney Live.
The heat epicentre of the day's closing evidence. Sweltering Cities told the Committee Marsden Park sits among Sydney's hottest suburbs — not far from where 48.9°C was recorded in January 2020, the hottest temperature ever logged in Sydney — and that the CDC hyperscale campus was approved within twelve months over local health-district objections. “Marsden Park is still waiting for a library and a community centre and a pool, but they're getting a data centre.”
Where the scale question lands. Sweltering Cities pointed to a one-gigawatt project proposed at Kemps Creek, while the networks floated a Western Sydney “energy hub” — clustering load around the jointly funded bulk-supply point and network works near Kemps Creek so precincts share fibre, water and grid connection rather than each negotiating alone.
The water option put on the table. The Minister and her department confirmed the desalination plant at Kurnell could be doubled to lift Sydney's rainfall-independent water yield from 15% to 30% — a build of “at least $1 billion,” with the Government insisting existing Sydney Water customers should not cross-subsidise industrial data-centre demand or the recycled water that could serve it.
The backdrop to the whole inquiry, and the place the networks' numbers concentrate: Endeavour's ~900 MW across 20 sites, 11 of 15 fast-tracked projects, and the suburbs Sweltering Cities named — Marsden Park, Eastern Creek, Kemps Creek — already among the hottest in the basin. The siting question is whether the next wave lands here again, or where the grid has headroom.
Every figure and quote on this page is read directly from the uncorrected transcript of the fourth hearing, published by the NSW Legislative Council. Uncorrected means witnesses may still correct their evidence; treat quotes as provisional until the corrected transcript is released. We've quoted verbatim where we can and linked the source on each number. Place markers on the maps are approximate locator points, not surveyed coordinates, and the basemap is © OpenStreetMap, © CARTO.
Uncorrected transcript, 29 May 2026 (PDF) ↗ Inquiry page (pk=3169) ↗ Hearing 3 read → The full case study → Sydney Live →
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