How Much Power Does a Data Centre Use in Australia?

How much power does a data centre use? It depends on size. A small server room often draws somewhere between a few kilowatts and a few tens of kilowatts, a commercial colocation site a few megawatts, and a large AI campus 100 megawatts or more, which at full load would use about 0.9 terawatt hours in a year. Across Australia, AEMO estimates that around 165 data centres use about 5 terawatt hours a year today.

⚡ Quick Answers: How Much Power a Data Centre Uses

• How is data centre power measured? Demand is in kilowatts (kW) or megawatts (MW), energy over time is in kilowatt hours or terawatt hours, and the capacity of the supply is in kVA or MVA.
• How much does one rack use? Traditional racks commonly draw about 5 to 15 kW, while AI racks are commonly quoted from about 40 kW to 100 kW or more.
• How much does a small server room use? Often a few kilowatts to a few tens of kilowatts, but cooling and growth change that quickly, so it needs measuring.
• How much does a large campus use? Tens to hundreds of megawatts. One proposed Western Sydney development described a maximum of about 180 MVA on a dedicated 132 kV supply.
• How much do Australian data centres use in total? About 5 TWh a year today, with AEMO forecasting about 34 TWh by 2035 to 2036.
• Why must the supply be bigger than the load? Redundancy, peak demand and planned growth all need capacity held in reserve.

1. Watts, kilowatt hours and kVA: three different questions

People use the same words for three different things. Demand is how much power a site draws at a moment in time, measured in kilowatts or megawatts. Energy is how much it uses over a period, measured in kilowatt hours or terawatt hours. Capacity is how much the electrical supply can deliver, measured in kilovolt amperes (kVA) or megavolt amperes (MVA), which is a little higher than kilowatts because of power factor.

A data centre owner usually needs all three. Demand sizes the cables and switchboards. Energy drives the electricity bill. Capacity is what the distributor approves and what the connection agreement is written around.

2. Power per rack: the number that drives everything

The rack is the basic building block. A traditional enterprise rack has commonly drawn about 5 to 15 kilowatts. Racks built for AI work, filled with GPU servers, are now commonly quoted from around 40 kilowatts to 100 kilowatts or more. Multiply by the number of racks, add cooling and power conversion losses, and you have the facility load.

This is why two rooms of the same floor area can have completely different supply needs. Ten racks at 6 kilowatts is a 60 kilowatt IT load. Ten AI racks at 60 kilowatts is 600 kilowatts in the same space, and the cables, switchboard and cooling that suited the first room will not suit the second. Our guide to why data centres use so much power explains what drives that density.

3. A worked example: a 20 rack server hall

This is an illustrative example, not a design, to show how the numbers stack up. Take a hall with 20 racks averaging 8 kilowatts each.

• IT load: 20 racks at 8 kW is 160 kW.
• Facility load: At a PUE of 1.5, the total site load is about 240 kW, because cooling and power conversion add roughly half again.
• Current: On a 400 volt three phase supply, 240 kW is roughly 346 amps per phase at a power factor of 1. A lower power factor means more current.
• Energy: Running at 240 kW all year is about 2.1 million kilowatt hours.
• Redundancy: If the design calls for 2N power, two independent supplies must each be able to carry that full load.

A load of around 346 amps per phase already sits where cable size, conduit, switchboard busbar rating and fault level all need careful design, and that is a modest hall. Cable selection follows AS/NZS 3008, the connection follows the Service and Installation Rules of NSW (SIRNSW), and the distributor must confirm the network can supply the load before any of it is built.

4. Scaling up: from megawatts to megavolt amperes

A large facility is a different animal. A single 100 megawatt site running flat out for a year would use about 0.9 terawatt hours. A proposed Western Sydney data centre development described in a document lodged with Endeavour Energy had a maximum power consumption of approximately 180 MVA, and it proposed a dedicated 132 kilovolt supply because the existing 11 kilovolt network nearby could not carry the load. At that scale the work runs through the distributor’s large customer process and high voltage design, not a standard low voltage connection.

Endeavour Energy states that large or technically complex installations may be required to connect to its high voltage network at voltages from 11,000 volts to 132,000 volts. Where the line sits between low voltage and high voltage supply is decided by the distributor’s assessment of your load and site, not by a single number that fits every case. Our Level 3 design page explains how network connection design works.

5. The national picture

AEMO estimates that around 165 data centres use about 5 terawatt hours a year across the National Electricity Market. Average monthly data centre demand has grown from almost 200 megawatts in 2018 to more than 700 megawatts in June 2026. Its 2026 forecast has consumption reaching about 34 terawatt hours by 2035 to 2036, around 13 per cent of NEM consumption, with a high growth case near 52 terawatt hours. The projects AEMO considered rose from 97 to 225 in a year, though it cautions that many proposals never reach construction.

For Sydney that means more demand on both the Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy networks. If you are not sure which network serves your site, check your network area in seconds with our postcode checker before planning a connection.

6. Working out your own number

For an existing server room or data hall, the most reliable starting point is measured data. Our power logging service records real demand over days or weeks, so the supply is sized on actual peaks and not nameplate ratings. From there we add planned growth, cooling and redundancy to arrive at a target capacity. Planning for the next five years of equipment, not just today’s, is usually much cheaper than a second upgrade later. Our guide to data centre power supply upgrades in Sydney shows what happens once the number is known.

Why it’s Level 2 ASP work

When the answer is that the supply must grow, the change happens at the connection between the network and the site. That is Level 2 ASP work: we prepare the network application, install larger consumer mains and coordinate the connection with Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy or Essential Energy. Our Level 2 electrician page explains what that accreditation covers.

How High Demand Electrical helps

We are one of Sydney’s most trusted Level 2 ASPs for businesses that need more capacity, and we take the numbers seriously. We start with measured load, build in redundancy and growth, then size the mains, switchboard and approvals to match. We work across Sydney’s West, South West and Sutherland Shire on server rooms, comms rooms and existing data halls, and our data centre power upgrades page sets out the full scope. We will always say plainly if a project is beyond low voltage and belongs in the distributor’s high voltage process.

How Much Power a Data Centre Uses FAQs (Sydney)

How many kilowatts does a server rack use?

Traditional racks commonly draw about 5 to 15 kilowatts, while AI racks are commonly quoted from about 40 to 100 kilowatts or more. The right figure for your site is the measured one.

What is the difference between kW and kVA?

kW is the real power doing work, while kVA is the total capacity the supply must deliver, which is higher when the power factor is below 1. Distributors approve supply in kVA or MVA.

How much power does a small server room need?

Often a few kilowatts to a few tens of kilowatts, but cooling and growth change that quickly. A load assessment gives you a real answer.

Does a data centre need three phase power?

Almost always, since the loads are too large for single phase. See what changes in a three phase upgrade.

Who can check whether my site can take more load?

Call High Demand Electrical on 0402 559 777 for a load assessment and network application advice. See our power supply upgrades page.

Get a Power Supply Upgrade Quote: Call High Demand Electrical on 0402 559 777 to size the supply for your server room or data hall. Every job needs a site assessment before scope or pricing can be confirmed.