The Labor government has approved a $1.263 billion data centre for Microsoft in Sydney.
The 96-megawatt facility will be built at 6 Honeman Close, Huntingwood, and will have 39,297 square metres of space, containing 40 halls, and rise five-storeys.
Total power demand is anticipated to be 140MVA, and it will operate around the clock.
The plan calls for installing 46 diesel backup generators, lithium-ion battery units and diesel fuel storage, permitting a maximum of 158,763 kg of lithium-ion batteries and 1.532 million L of diesel.
The use of backup generators is capped at 187 hours annually, unless an unexpected outage occurs, and testing is restricted to a single unit at any given moment.
According to the NSW evaluation, the scheme could create as many as 250 full-time equivalent positions during construction and 74 permanent operational roles.
Blacktown City Council had objected to the project, but they withdrew their objections after changes to the design and proposed biodiversity and other mitigation measures were made.
Approximately 0.33 ha of indigenous plant cover, comprising 0.31 ha of the critically endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland, will be cleared, shrinking the current conservation zone from roughly 1.11 ha to 0.78 ha.
Before any clearing or building commences, Microsoft must obtain and retire a total of 11 ecosystem credits together with 24 species credits, or otherwise fund the Biodiversity Conservation Fund with an equivalent sum.
The leftover 0.78 ha of conservation land is to be safeguarded indefinitely, while Microsoft simultaneously pursues federal clearance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The undertaking forms a component of Microsoft’s wider Australian data-centre program, which, following a 2025 announcement, involves a $25 billion spend on domestic digital infrastructure aimed at boosting the nation’s cloud and AI capabilities by over 140 % by 2029’s close.
