Proposed Dalby data centre to harvest rainwater from roof

The proposed Western Downs Digital Park, Australia's largest data centre, plans to harvest rainwater from its roof to air-cool its operations. The developer, Zerra DC, asserts that the data centre would remain operational even during severe droughts. The proposed $32 billion development park in regional Queensland would feature four data centres, the first of which will be leased by Anthropic for use as early as 2027.

Each building would need 21,000 litres of water per day, comparable to a small shopping centre's usage. Despite receiving less than 200 millimetres of rain in 2019, the facility would collect sufficient rainwater to function due to its extensive roof area of 35,000 square metres. Zerra DC's chief data centre officer, Matt Ward, revealed that artificial intelligence customers, like Anthropic, would be responsible for covering the cost of the power supply.

The company operates as the "landlord" of commercial buildings, with tenants like Anthropic responsible for their power supply costs. As the federal government works towards a framework requiring data centres to feed power back into the grid, the dilemma of who pays for power production remains. Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley emphasized the need for both parties to be held accountable to prevent higher power prices for Queensland residents.

Some residents in the Western Downs have raised concerns about the impact of the multi-billion-dollar investment on the region's farming land and local lifestyle. Zerra DC has committed to creating 1,500 jobs per year during construction and 1,400 permanent jobs at full capacity, promising to revitalize the local economy with a diverse workforce in various fields.