Proposed data centre faces scrutiny over water and environmental risks

Clayton Heinrich is a farmer in SA's Mid North, his property is 3km from the Bundey electrical substation. (ABC North & West SA: Jenae Madden) A proposed 800-megawatt data centre for South Australia is set to be one of the largest in the Asia Pacific. Locals say the $10 billion development has "come out of the blue", holding concerns it will deplete water from the River Murray. Australian tech company IREN has signed a local transmission connection agreement and hopes to be online by 2028. Link copiedShareShare articleClayton Heinrich has owned his 1,000-hectare farm in the locality of Bright in South Australia's Mid North for more than 40 years. He said the once-clear horizon of his retirement property had changed dramatically over the past three years, and his plans were now uncertain. "I used to get people out here to have a look at the stars … camping out here, but I guess those days may be gone." The Bundey substation integrates large-scale renewable energy into the National Energy Market. (ABC RIverland: Amelia Walters) Three kilometres from Mr Heinrich's property is the locality of Bundey, an area home to an electrical substation crucial to Australia's largest energy transmission project. Australian company IREN has now proposed a $10 billion data centre to be built "adjacent to" the Bundey substation, using its infrastructure to support an 800-megawatt project. "It was quite a shock, I had no inkling of this happening," Mr Heinrich said. Data centres are designed to process, store and manage digital data and have been popping up at locations across Australia and overseas. The Bundey development is yet to be formally assessed through the appropriate development processes, including consultation and review from state departments. But, if approved, it would be one of the biggest data centres in the Asia Pacific region. IREN is the company behind the project and said once complete, it would create 200 ongoing skilled jobs for the region. IREN operates data centres in multiple locations, including North America. (Supplied: IREN) Co-founder and chief executive Daniel Roberts said the centre would use a closed-loop cooling system, which involved coolant being circulated in a sealed loop and dispersing heat through the air, not through water. "I haven't got the exact data, but we are talking a very, very small amount of up-front water … [it will be] a few Olympic-sized swimming pools," he told Deb Tribe on 891 ABC Radio. Australian National University environmental accounting associate professor Michael Vardon said closed-loop systems still require "topping up". "It's not as water-intensive as other technologies, but it's still absolutely massive," Mr Vardon said. Bundey is a semi-arid locality with livestock properties in the nearby surroundings. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters) "We don't actually know how much existing data centres are using in terms of water. We've got a good guess at the power, but we know very little about the water." An IREN spokesperson said after the initial fill, less than one per cent of its total on-site tank capacity would be depleted annually. Concerns around water use have been shared across the globe, and in South Australia, the sources of water are limited. IREN did not confirm to the ABC exactly how much water would be used or where it would likely be sourced from. Regional Council of Goyder mayor Bill Gebhardt said the project was a positive and welcomed development that would provide job opportunities. He said his understanding was that the source would be River Murray water from the Morgan to Whyalla pipeline. The pipeline supplies water across the Mid North, Yorke Peninsula and Eyre Peninsula. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters) The above-ground pipeline already supplies drinking water to more than 130,000 homes across the Mid North, Yorke Peninsula and Eyre Peninsula, according to SA Water. This was alarming for Teresa ter Bogt, who volunteers with a local conservation action group in her riverside community of Renmark. Teresa ter Bogt is concerned by any development that takes a large amount of water out of the river system. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters) "Any development that takes a large amount of water out of our River system is a concern," the Bookmark Creek Action Group secretary said. "When we get a drought, our growers and our environmental water are all cut, we don't get a full allocation. The River Murray is part of the Murray-Darling Basin which stretches across eastern and southern Australia. (ABC News: Will Hunter) "The River Murray is the basis of the whole ecosystem and environment in the Riverland, and without a healthy river, we won't have a healthy community. The close-knit Riverland town of Morgan is located around 40 kilometres from Bundey, where cafe manager Tori Widmer lives with her young family. She said the whole town only heard of the proposed development in recent days, and many were concerned about the unknow

Proposed data centre faces scrutiny over water and environmental risks

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Proposed data centre faces scrutiny over water and environmental risks

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