The New South Wales Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has approved Goodman Group’s proposed Project Pluto data centre in Guildford West, paving the way for the development of a 68MW facility in Western Sydney. The state significant development will be built at 132 McCredie Road on a 71,710 sqm site formerly occupied by a Castrol lubricants facility.
Planning documents estimate the project will cost AUD 1.11 billion and comprise a 29,444 sqm data centre with nine data halls, ancillary office space, electrical infrastructure, water storage tanks and associated site works. The project will be delivered in two stages reflecting the staged availability of electricity supply. Stage one will provide 34MW of capacity across five data halls, while the second stage will add a further four data halls and associated electrical infrastructure, taking the facility to an ultimate capacity of 68MW.
According to the planning application, Goodman intends the facility to meet demand from hyperscale cloud and data storage operators. The site adjoins the Guildford Transmission Substation, with the first stage to be supplied directly from the transmission network. A second 34 MW supply is proposed through the Endeavour Energy distribution network via a new on-site substation.
Project documentation indicates the facility has been designed around a water-cooled mechanical system following an assessment of five cooling options, including air-cooled, adiabatic and hybrid configurations. An engineering study prepared by Arup concluded that water-cooled chillers with open cooling towers offered the lowest projected power usage effectiveness (PUE), lower noise emissions and the flexibility to support future liquid-to-chip cooling technologies.
The study estimated an annualised PUE of between 1.27 and 1.32, while the project’s sustainability report states the facility has been designed to achieve a maximum PUE of 1.4.
The sustainability strategy outlined in the planning documents includes a proposed 500 kW rooftop solar installation, a 60,000-litre rainwater tank, water-side economisation, magnetic-bearing chillers and variable-speed pumping systems. Goodman estimates these measures would reduce potable water demand for amenities by around 43% and lower greenhouse gas emissions compared with a reference building.
Planning documents estimate the development will generate 467 full-time equivalent construction jobs and support around 60 operational roles once complete. The Department’s notice of determination and conditions of consent had not been published on the NSW Major Projects website at the time of writing.