NSW State significant register/data centres
How long NSW data centre approvals take
378days
From the EIS exhibition opening to the decision, NSW data centre approvals took a median of 378 days (19 decided projects; shortest 158, longest 1,022).
Data as at 1 November 2026. Dates come from the project pages, the upload times the portal stamps on documents, the department's own assessment reports and our captures.
Exhibition to decision · one line per application
How long each approval took
Where the time goes
In the pipeline report
The wait above runs from exhibition to decision. The pipeline report breaks it down stage by stage, from the request for SEARs to the decision (14 measured steps): the median, middle half and range for each step, so you can see where approvals stall. It also lists the 18 NSW applications not yet decided, nearest a decision first, with the power each one states.
Approvals per year
By decision date
| Year | New | Mods | Median days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 158 (1) |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 238 (1) |
| 2024 | 4 | 1 | 359 (4) |
| 2025 | 7 | 2 | 357 (7) |
| 2026 (to 1 Nov 2026) | 6 | 6 | 463 (6) |
The current year is the year to date. Megawatts approved each year are in the pipeline report.
What this doesn't cover
- Council approvals. Smaller data centres approved by councils aren't on the State significant register, so these counts are a floor.
- Stage history before our captures. We began capturing the register on 8 October 2026; earlier stage changes are dated only where a document or report dates them.
- Dates as stated. Dates from assessment reports are as the department states them; an upload time marks when a document went up, which can be after the event.
NSW register data: NSW Major Projects register (State significant development, "Data Storage"), © State of New South Wales and Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, CC BY 4.0; captured weekly, parsed and compared by RegularsAI. Licence: CC BY 4.0. The NSW Government does not endorse RegularsAI.