Plans to cool AI data centre using trucked-in water and rainwater

A proposed AI data centre in north-west Tasmania plans to cool its facilities using rainwater and water that it trucks in.Firmus Technologies wants to build a 52-megawatt AI data centre in Wesley Vale, at the old paper mill site in Mill Park.The centre would produce AI tokens, needed for tools such as generative AI chatbot ChatGPT.Latrobe Council has now released the project's development application, which is open for public submissions until September 9.The council received the application months ago, but told the ABC it was waiting on Firmus to submit extra information before releasing it to the public and later voting on the proposal.Earlier this week, George Town Council approved one of Firmus's other proposed data centres — a 288-megawatt facility in the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone, in northern Tasmania.Firmus is also building a 104-megawatt facility in the Launceston suburb of St Leonards.Application details water use, noise emissions, jobs Firmus came under scrutiny last month when it accidentally published information on its website about its water supply plans for the proposed Wesley Vale facility.The company wrote that because there was no TasWater connection to the site, it planned to use rainwater and water from state-owned company Tasmanian Irrigation.Tasmanian Irrigation supplies water to agricultural users and said at the time it could not legally provide water to data centres.The development application shows Firmus now plans to use rainwater and water delivered by truck."We expect the trucking option to be needed only in extreme dry periods," the application states.The AI data centre is proposed for the old paper mill site. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)The biggest water requirement is for cooling, which Firmus states will only be required on days when the temperature exceeds 26 degrees Celsius.On noise emissions, an assessment published in the application found they would "not cause a significant loss of amenity or environmental nuisance", but recommended the assessment be updated when details were finalised."As the predicted combined noise level of the data centre is very close to the background + 5 dB(A) target level, it is recommended that additional noise mitigation measures are applied to the emergency generators to achieve a sound power level of 85 dB(A)," it states."This would allow for issues such as periods of unusually high noise propagation or equipment noise emissions that are higher than predicted by the manufacturer's catalogue data or that change over time."The development application shows there will be 40 backup diesel generators at the site.Council will vote whether to approve or reject the proposal after members of the public have their say. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)Firmus said the Wesley Vale facility would support 70 jobs in construction and 20 ongoing roles.The company does not yet have a power deal for the site, but has previously indicated its preference to use Tasmania's hydro energy."Firmus is committed to supporting new renewable energy projects in Tasmania, with the goal of fully matching the electricity demand of our sites over time," the development application states."We are only contracting energy that is available today, and are working with Tas Hydro to underwrite new energy as part of future contracting."Planning scheme 'not fit for purpose' to evaluate data centres, mayor saysLatrobe Mayor Peter Freshney said the council's role was to assess the project against the planning scheme."It really does highlight the almost tension between the two roles of elected members — that is community representation and the role as a member of a planning authority," he told 936 ABC Hobart."The planning authority, and members therein, can only consider those components of a planning scheme that are applicable under the legislation."The community would expect us to consider much more than that."Peter Freshney does not believe the planning scheme is the best way to assess AI data centres. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)Some community members and councillors, including George Town Mayor Greg Kieser, believe Firmus's facilities should be assessed by the state government, rather than local councils under the planning scheme.Cr Freshney said he did not believe the planning scheme, legislated in 1993, was fit for purpose to evaluate a project of this scale."It was legislated at a time when data centres as such would not have even been considered feasible or on the horizon," he said."I don't believe that any framework can be fit for purpose for every situation."I think there's an opportunity for both federal and state governments to reflect that concern, that reality."