This is just the beginning, with only 13 cents completed for every dollar of projects started last financial year, meaning billions more in capacity is in the pipelines. These projects are concentrated primarily in NSW and Victoria, the same two states about to lose major coal generation.
Here's what the numbers show:
- $6.4 billion of data centre construction was completed in 2025-26, nearly double the prior year.
- Data centre construction starts tripled to $18.2 billion in 2025-26, making it Australia's largest private non-residential building category, up from fourth place the year prior.
- Only 13 cents of every dollar started in data centre construction was completed in 2025-26, compared to 72 cents across private non-residential building generally, reflecting the multi-year build cycle.
- New South Wales and Victoria account for 91 per cent of current data centre construction and hold 96 per cent of national electricity demand for the sector.
- New South Wales holds 66 per cent of east coast data centre electricity demand to Victoria's 30 per cent, though Victoria's construction share at 44.3 per cent already exceeds its demand share at 30 per cent.
- AEMO projects data centre electricity consumption on the east coast and south-east grid will triple by 2029-30 and comprise 13 per cent of total grid demand by 2035-36.
- Victoria will lose Yallourn coal plant in 2028 and New South Wales will lose Eraring in 2029, removing major generation capacity as data centre electricity demand surges.
- If current construction rates hold, approximately $9 billion of data centre work will be completed in the current financial year.
What does it mean for Aussie homes?
That shows a clear picture: a surge in electricity demand from data centres at the same time as Yallourn and Eraring leave the grid. With AEMO projecting the sector's consumption to triple by 2030, that's a lot of new pressure on a system that's already rapidly changing.
For households, the takeaway is simple: you can't control how much power the grid needs to provide, but you can control how much you rely on the grid. Solar and batteries have never made more sense, letting you generate your own clean, free electricity to use throughout the day and store for use during peak periods or in a blackout. Data centres are being built regardless, so the question is whether your home is ready to cope with the fallout.
