From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Essay by Eric Worrall

“… We were all on board, thinking it was going to attract some really interesting small-scale industries like electric cars, photovoltaics … things like that. …”

How is that a good deal?’: Outrage at Southern Highlands data centre

Greg Bearup Senior writer
Jun 26, 2026 – 5.00am

The AI boom has landed in the wealthy region with a speculative plan to supersize a hub and power it with a new gas plant. Locals are fighting back.

…

Cloud Carrier plans to build a data centre on the outskirts of Moss Vale, powered by a 673-megawatt gas power station.

If built, it would be among the largest gas plants in the state and would put a serious dent in the state’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

…

“This [industrial park] had been sold to us as a positive thing,” says McKay.

“We were all on board, thinking it was going to attract some really interesting small-scale industries like electric cars, photovoltaics … things like that.

“We are a very environmentally minded community.

“We’re all trying to do the right thing on an individual small scale, and then you have this thing, which would not only wipe out any emissions we’re saving, but the emissions of the entire state.”

…

Kean, now chairman of the federal Climate Change Authority, says data centres should be underwriting new renewables projects, not new fossil fuel projects.

…Read more: https://www.afr.com/technology/not-in-my-back-paddock-data-centre-plan-sparks-fury-in-rural-nsw-20260619-p608gu

What an interesting and complex situation.

The countryside in that part of the world is beautiful – amazing landscape, boutique restaurants.

And to be fair, the industrial park was sold as a green innovation hub.

Southern Highlands Innovation Park (SHIP)

Offering unique opportunities to attract sustainable and innovative industries, the SHIP positions itself as a major economic driver for the Shire and the broader region.

About the Project:

The Southern Highlands Innovation Park (SHIP) is a regionally significant employment precinct comprising some 1,053 hectares of industrial zoned land between Moss Vale and Berrima. This precinct provides a unique opportunity to attract sustainable and innovative industries and become a major employer and economic driver for the Shire and the broader region.

The adopted SHIP Master Plan outlines implementation strategies to realise its long-term vision for the precinct, including a targeted rezoning of the southeastern portion of the SHIP from E4 General Industrial to E3 Productivity Support. See below for more details on the Planning Proposal.

…Read more: https://participatewingecarribee.wsc.nsw.gov.au/ship

There is something terribly unrealistic about expecting “industries like electric cars, photovoltaics … things like that” to be powered by a few genteel solar panels on the roofs of the ecologically sensitive boutique cottage industries the locals obviously expected their new industrial park to attract, or a discrete solar park out of sight behind a hill nobody cares about.

Yet Australia has a terrifying shortage of onshore AI capacity. Australia’s strict data privacy laws make sharing code and data with offshore data providers legally risky. Without more onshore data capacity, the Australian economy, the cornerstone of the prosperity enjoyed by wealthy land owners in places like Moss Vale, will be at risk.

Anyone who thinks AI doesn’t deliver transformative productivity gains, I recommend you read my article on vibe coding, which contains a complete start to finish demonstration of how powerful this new technology is. My vibe code example was driven by AI data centers in the USA – to the best of my knowledge Australia has no domestic data centers which can deliver this level of capability. And it’s not just code – as my article below details, vibe production, which extends accelerated product development cycles to all sectors of the economy, is very rapidly becoming a thing.

Why Artificial Intelligence will Win the Green Energy War

In this case, despite my enthusiasm for AI and concern that Australia is slipping badly behind, I believe the locals in South Downs can reasonably claim to have been misled. Perhaps the locals should have done their own research, but in my opinion the prospectus for the industrial park which I quoted above could have been more open about the kind of industry they were hoping to attract.

Let’s hope the residents of Moss Vale get a resolution to their dilemma which they find acceptable, even if it isn’t everything they might have wanted.