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Join our 2nd annual Australian Data Centres Power & Water Summit this 10-11 June 2026 at the Swissotel Sydney for the nation’s first dedicated conference addressing the pressing power and water challenges faced by the rapidly growing data centre sector.

As data centres expand to meet the surge in demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, their energy and water consumption are expected to reach unprecedented levels, making it critical for the industry to find sustainable solutions.

This has prompted the Australian Government has announced its five expectations for data centres and AI infrastructure developers, which focus on national security, resilience, and maintaining social licence. This new national interest framework expects artificial intelligence giants to fund their own renewable power and improve water efficiency in exchange for fast-tracked regulatory approvals.

This announcement is timely, given that new research from Baringa for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) shows that by 2035, data centre expansion alone could drive a 26% rise in wholesale electricity prices in New South Wales and 23% in Victoria. Meanwhile, Sydney Water estimates that data centre demand will increase water use by 250 megalitres per day in Sydney alone by 2035.

Book now to join the conversation and explore the most urgent issues surrounding energy and water use in this rapidly growing sector.

“The Albanese government will move to curb the data centre gold rush from cannibalising the energy transition with a new national interest framework that expects artificial intelligence giants to fund their own renewable power in exchange for fast-tracked regulatory approvals.”
– AFR, 22/03/2026

“Australia’s data-centre sector faces stricter and potentially more expensive electricity grid connections under proposed rule changes aimed at preventing blackouts due to the power demand from artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The Australian Energy Market Commission has proposed new technical standards that would require large data centres to stay connected during disturbances on the electricity grid and respond to instability, reflecting concerns the facilities behave more like power generators than traditional energy users.”
– The Australian, 12/03/2026

“Australia’s ambitions to cash in on the global boom in data centres will live or die on two factors above all others: access to energy and water.”
– AFR, 27/01/2026

“…the big AI companies, having mopped up all the excess power in the United States, are scrambling to set up in other markets. They love the idea of coming to Australia and say it is a now-or-never opportunity.”
– AFR 15/12/2025