Plans to cool AI data centre using trucked-in water and rainwater
An AI data centre in north-west Tasmania, proposed by Firmus Technologies, plans to cool its facilities using rainwater and water that it trucks in. Community members are now able to make submissions on the proposal.
A proposed AI data centre in north-west Tasmania, developed by Firmus Technologies, plans to cool its facilities using rainwater and water trucked in. The 52-megawatt facility, set to be built in Wesley Vale, aims to produce AI tokens for tools like generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. The project's development application, open for public submissions until September 9, was recently released by Latrobe Council.
Firmus had previously received approval for a 288-megawatt facility in Bell Bay and a 104-megawatt one in St Leonards. However, the firm faced criticism last month for publicly disclosing its water supply plans, asserting it would use rainwater and water from Tasmanian Irrigation, which can't legally supply to data centres. The development application now reveals Firmus will rely on rainwater and trucked water, primarily for cooling during temperatures exceeding 26 degrees Celsius.
The council's role is to assess the project against planning scheme requirements, but some community members and councillors argue the planning scheme, established in 1993, is inadequate for evaluating such a large-scale project.
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