CDC quadruples Kemps Creek plan to 1.4GW in single filing

CDC has filed an updated application for a 1.4GW data center campus at Kemps Creek, New South Wales, quadrupling the capacity it first proposed in August. The filing, submitted to the state government this month under the SEARS process (the Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements, New South Wales' planning gateway for major projects), replaces a staged rollout with one consolidated plan.

What changed between August and now?

The original application covered a single four-story building of 144MW across 34,000 sqm (365,970 sq ft), on 88.4 hectares at 871-901 Mamre Road. That filing was designed as the first stage of a wider campus, expanded through later applications.

CDC has now abandoned that sequence. The updated application covers six two-story buildings, designated KC1 through KC6, totaling 1.4GW plus an on-site substation. The land parcel grew to 117.5 hectares at 859-901 Mamre Road.

A tenfold increase in committed capacity in four months invites scrutiny. The company has not said why it consolidated the filings, nor has it published a construction timeline. An application is a statement of intent, not an approved build.

How is the 1.4GW split across buildings?

The filing allocates capacity unevenly, which suggests phased delivery even under a single approval:

• KC1 to KC3: 168MW across five data halls each, totaling 504MW
• KC4: 144MW across four halls
• KC5: 120MW across three data halls
• KC6: 240MW across seven halls

KC6 alone would exceed the entire original August proposal by nearly 100MW. The substation, needed to serve 1.4GW of IT load (the power consumed by servers and equipment rather than cooling and infrastructure), signals grid negotiations at transmission scale. CDC has not disclosed the intended energy supplier or the substation's voltage class.

Where does this fit in CDC's portfolio?

CDC was founded in 2007 and is backed by the investment firm Infratil. It operates nearly 20 sites across Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Auckland, New Zealand. More than 600MW of capacity is in operation or development across those markets, with 70MW of that in New Zealand. The company's future development pipeline totals a further 1.6GW out to 2034.

Kemps Creek at 1.4GW would more than double that pipeline figure on its own. Whether the campus lands within that 1.6GW envelope or sits beyond it, the filing does not clarify. That gap is worth watching.

How does Kemps Creek compare with CDC's existing Sydney sites?

Sydney currently hosts two CDC campuses. Eastern Creek has four buildings live: EC1 at 7MW, EC2 at 20MW, EC3 at 42MW, and EC4 at 54MW, a cumulative 123MW since work started on the site in 2018. Two more buildings, EC5 and EC6, are under construction and could total more than 100MW combined.

Marsden Park, still in development, could offer more than 504MW with potential to scale to around 1GW. CDC broke ground there in late 2024.

The comparison is stark. Eastern Creek took roughly six years to reach 123MW of live capacity; Kemps Creek proposes eleven times that figure in one filing. Marsden Park's 1GW ceiling, once CDC's largest Sydney ambition, would sit below the Kemps Creek plan by 40 percent.

What happens next?

The application now sits with the New South Wales government. The SEARS process requires environmental assessment before approval, and a 1.4GW campus with its own substation will draw scrutiny on power supply, water use, and grid connection queues in western Sydney. No determination date is public.

For now, the numbers are promises on paper. CDC's track record, 600MW operating or in development across two countries, gives the plan credibility. But a filing this size against a 1.6GW pipeline to 2034 leaves open questions about sequencing, power procurement, and delivery dates that only construction will answer.