29% of NSW Renewables Wasted in 2025 — Regional Data Centres Could Fix It

Every year, gigawatts of clean energy are thrown away across New South Wales as solar and wind farms are forced to curtail output due to grid bottlenecks. A new report argues that this waste represents a massive missed opportunity, not just for the climate but for the economy. Strategically siting data centres near these renewable projects could turn a loss into a gain, soaking up excess electrons while powering the digital future.

On 17 June 2026, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) released the Site It Right report, a landmark study by the Carbon Zero Initiative that proposes a pioneering solution to two of Australia's pressing challenges: the explosive energy demands of artificial intelligence and the astonishing waste of renewable energy in regional New South Wales. The report, which focuses on the state's burgeoning data centre industry, argues that by siting these facilities near existing solar and wind farms, Australia could not only curb energy curtailment but also spark a new wave of regional economic development.

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Oxford Economics Australia has projected that without intervention, AI data hubs could consume up to 11% of the state's grid-supplied electricity by 2030, a figure that has spooked policymakers and energy planners alike.

The context is a digital infrastructure boom. Data centres, the backbone of cloud computing and generative AI, are proliferating across Australia, with NSW at the epicentre. Oxford Economics Australia has projected that without intervention, AI data hubs could consume up to 11% of the state's grid-supplied electricity by 2030, a figure that has spooked policymakers and energy planners alike. Water usage for cooling, land availability, and grid capacity are all flashpoints. Yet simultaneously, the renewable energy sector faces a parallel and paradoxical crisis: too much clean power. Due to transmission constraints and oversupply during sunny or windy periods, operators of large-scale solar and wind farms in NSW were forced to curtail almost one-third of their generation in 2025—a staggering 2.1 gigawatts. That wasted energy, if harnessed, could power millions of homes or, as the Site It Right report suggests, power the very data centres that are fuelling the AI revolution.

The Carbon Zero Initiative's analysis reveals a compelling technical and economic case. By co-locating data centres with existing renewable energy zones in regional centres such as Griffith and Albury, operators could absorb excess generation during peak output periods, effectively using big loads as a sink for otherwise curtailed electrons. This would not only reduce the need for expensive new transmission lines—which can take decades to build—but also provide a stable, affordable power source for energy-hungry servers. The report finds that building internet connections from these regional hubs back to Sydney would be significantly cheaper than upgrading the grid, and latency testing shows that data can make the round trip in as little as 3.4 to 6.8 milliseconds, well within the acceptable thresholds for generative AI, cloud services, and standard business applications. Even in the worst-case scenario examined, from border communities, the latency was just 15 milliseconds, a delay imperceptible to most applications.

The economic implications extend beyond the energy sector. Regional towns would gain construction and ongoing operational jobs, diversifying local economies that have traditionally relied on agriculture or mining. The ETU, representing electrical workers, sees this as a chance to create a new, high-skilled industry in the outback. Alexander Hoysted, strategy lead at the Carbon Zero Initiative, emphasised that 'Australia has a chance to create an industry that serves Australia by ensuring the right settings and proper community consideration is done ahead of any build-out.'