IREN Wants to Spend A$10 Billion on an AI Data Centre in Wagga Wagga

Wagga Wagga, a regional city in the Riverina known for wheat fields and the Murrumbidgee river, has just become the most unlikely battleground in Australia’s AI infrastructure race. Nasdaq-listed AI cloud provider IREN announced this week that it wants to build a 900-megawatt data centre campus on the city’s outskirts, a project called Redbank that would cost more than A$10 billion.

Why Wagga Wagga is suddenly on the AI map

The answer, in a word, is the grid. Both IREN and CDC point to the area’s high-voltage transmission infrastructure as the main attraction, with the proposed sites sitting near existing transmission corridors on the city’s southern outskirts. Transgrid, the network operator, has suggested that Wagga Wagga and nearby Yass could each host between 1 and 2 gigawatts of data centre infrastructure because of their proximity to major power lines.

AI data centres need enormous, steady supplies of electricity, and the easiest places to build them are places where the wires already exist. Regional Australia happens to have plenty of both: long transmission runs built for the old coal and hydro grid, and land that is far cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne. Redbank would also be IREN’s second Australian site, following an 800-megawatt campus announced in June for Bundey in South Australia, which the company says has already secured four 330-kilovolt feeder exits with energisation expected from 2028.

What Redbank actually promises

According to reporting from Capital Brief, IREN expects to invest more than A$10 billion (around US$7 billion) in the Redbank campus, building it in stages with a grid connection targeted for 2029. The company has promised to pay Wagga Wagga City Council more than A$200 million over 30 years, covering a community benefit fund, infrastructure projects and rates. The project is expected to support about 500 construction jobs and 200 ongoing roles.

Site renderings suggest at least four buildings plus an on-site substation. IREN says it would fund transmission costs itself, contract new renewable energy and storage to cover its power needs, and use a closed-loop cooling system to reduce water use, which matters in a region where every megalitre of water is politically loaded.

Executive director Lindsay Ward said the centre was needed as community and business use of digital services keeps growing rapidly. A scoping study is reportedly due at the end of October, with community sessions planned for November 4 and 5.

The rival next door: CDC’s bigger bet

Redbank did not arrive in a vacuum. One day before IREN’s announcement, CDC Data Centres unveiled its own plan for a four-building campus at Gregadoo, about 11 kilometres south of the city centre, with an estimated cost of A$15 billion and power demand of up to 1.4 gigawatts. That proposal is already at the SEARs stage of the state planning process, and it has drawn public petitions against it.

The politics got messy quickly. Councillors voted in a closed session to authorise the sale of council land at 232 Ashfords Road to CDC, land originally bought for future waste management, right next to the tip. The sale was made conditional on CDC signing a binding agreement on community benefits worth up to A$225 million. Together, the two projects would add around 2.3 gigawatts of electricity demand to one regional city, roughly the output of a large coal-fired power station, landing all at once.

The catch: power is not secured yet

Here is where the excitement needs a reality check. Redbank is still in an early assessment phase. The project is not part of IREN’s announced 5-gigawatt secured-power portfolio, and in its annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, IREN disclosed nine announced data centre projects, none of which was Redbank. No grid connection agreement has been signed, which makes it materially different from Bundey, where the company has locked in four 330kV feeder exits.

None of this means Redbank will not happen. Big proposals routinely start with an announcement and a long planning slog before a single server is installed. But the A$10 billion figure is an aspiration attached to a very early-stage plan, and the 2029 grid connection date is a target rather than a commitment.

The pattern is worth watching. Australia’s AI infrastructure story this month has been defined as much by what collapsed as by what was announced: Firmus scrapped its blockbuster ASX listing after investors balked at the economics, and AirTrunk postponed a S$4 billion Singapore float when fund managers demanded higher yields.

What it means for the town

For Wagga Wagga, the numbers on offer are hard to ignore. A$200 million to the council over three decades is real money for a regional city, and two hundred ongoing jobs would genuinely transform the local labour market.

But residents have reason to be cautious. Large data centres consume enormous amounts of electricity and water, even with closed-loop cooling, and community opposition has shaped several Australian proposals this year. The November drop-in sessions will be the first real test of how the town feels about hosting one of the largest AI infrastructure builds in the country, possibly two. The scoping study will show how serious IREN is. Until then, Redbank is a very expensive, very ambitious plan with a very long way to go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is IREN’s Redbank project?

Redbank is a proposed 900-megawatt data centre campus near Wagga Wagga in regional New South Wales, announced by Nasdaq-listed AI cloud provider IREN in October 2026. The company reportedly expects to invest more than A$10 billion, building the campus in stages with a grid connection targeted for 2029. It is IREN’s second Australian project after an 800MW campus at Bundey in South Australia.

Is the power supply for Redbank confirmed?

No. IREN describes Redbank as being in an early assessment phase, and the project is not included in the company’s announced 5-gigawatt secured-power portfolio. Unlike Bundey, which has signed transmission connection agreements, Redbank has no grid connection agreement yet. The 2029 date is a target, not a commitment.

What about the CDC data centre also proposed for Wagga Wagga?

A day before IREN’s announcement, CDC Data Centres proposed a four-building campus at Gregadoo with up to 1.4 gigawatts of power demand and an estimated A$15 billion cost, tied to a benefits package worth up to A$225 million. Both proposals are state significant developments and need NSW government approval. Community sessions for the IREN project are reportedly scheduled for November 4 and 5.