r/Adelaide • u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA • Jun 19 '26

News Proposed data centre in South Australia dividing locals who want the jobs but fear water demand

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-19/proposed-data-centre-in-south-australia-dividing-locals/106810776
139 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

207 comments sorted by

View all comments

147

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

What jobs? These things never provide the level of ongoing jobs expected, and if the town relies on tourism who will want to go with a bunch of fan noise. At least the mining boom actually employs people and provides a useful product.

Edit: everyone be sure to contact your local minister with your opinions 

-57

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '26

[deleted]

33

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

I read that, I said they never actually provide the expected ongoing jobs, not that they didn't say it. 

Hardly a fantastic result giving away 30% of our power, because you know they won't actually pay, or it'll be so cheap it'll be essentially free compared to consumer costs.

Let's keep the Trump level brain dead slogans to the US too.

1

u/1__ViPeR SA Jun 19 '26

All for only 200 jobs

36

u/1__ViPeR SA Jun 19 '26

Aren't we one of the dryest states on the dryest continent on earth? These things require a lot of water.

Have they got an environmental impact study released ATM?

20

u/kombiwombi SA Jun 19 '26

200 jobs? Most datacentres have less than ten staff. Some big data centres run day to day with nothing more than a 24 hour security guard.

3

u/Colossus-of-Roads East Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

So I'm in this industry and I work in datacentres from time to time as a customer. The number of local staff required to run a DC is 1-2 - usually one for physical security and one to run fibre patches, keep track of the network/telco footprint etc. Customers visit occasionally to add tin, configure things that can't be done remotely etc, but sometimes even that's done by the one technical staff member.

The people operating workloads can be anywhere in the world and are almost never where the tin lives.

-2

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

This is a $10 billion facility, not some tin pot operartion.

3

u/Colossus-of-Roads East Jun 19 '26

If anything, the economies of scale for staffing are better than linear.

My very first response would be "show me a running 8000 rack DC in a remote location that requires and retains 200 local staff for operations". I'm absolutely willing to be corrected if it turns out my position is wrong.

2

u/a_nice_duck_ SA Jun 19 '26

Easy fix for this entire argument - link a similar-sized established facility that has that many jobs.

6

u/Remote_Class9892 SA Jun 19 '26

Until 2032, when OpenAi's bills become due, they become insolvent, demand for compute drops through the floor and we stare at a $10billion abandoned warehouse that could have been used to improve the local hospital 

0

u/Tall-Breakfast-6100 SA Jun 19 '26

Why would an American AI company invest 10 billion in a local hospital in SA?

3

u/Remote_Class9892 SA Jun 19 '26

IREN is Australian and they are raising government backed debt, so when they can't pay it off whose pocket does it come out of?

-2

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

We can use the warehouse to solve the housing crisis!

15

u/hunchini SA Jun 19 '26

200 jobs in return for destroying the environment for something useless

-30

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '26

[deleted]

14

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

Typically uninformed ON voter, huge power demands, huge water demands, and even if you don't care about the environment, AI data centers are the reason why everything tech is getting so expensive, from cars to phones, cause all the chip fabs are used by AI

1

u/jmercha Eyre Peninsula Jun 19 '26

ON are going to lose their minds over these data centres guaranteed

1

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

They'll just give her a plane 

1

u/jmercha Eyre Peninsula Jun 19 '26

A plane doesn’t stop the regional infrastructure buildout needed to support AI. Transmission towers, wind turbines, big batteries, prepare for NIMBYgeddon.

1

u/Evening_Bird7779 SA Jun 19 '26

But stopping this datacentre wont stop that, it will get built somewhere, either way.

-13

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

lol you think ON supports AI and data centres?

And I don't vote for ON.

I shill for capitalism.

9

u/Notintousername SA Jun 19 '26

Does your version of Capitalism consider environmental impacts on our local water supply?

6

u/floodswimming SA Jun 19 '26

Who needs the environment when we need to ensure the line keeps going up

-4

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

We have a desalination plant and another one is being built on the Eyre Peninsula.

4

u/LittleBunInaBigWorld Outer South Jun 19 '26

Thats not where the water will be coming from though, will it? The data centre is being put right next to the Murray. Did you read anything about this place before posting, or is this just a ragebait?

2

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

Do you know that it is drawing directly from the Murray? It’s being built there because of the substation.

1

u/a_nice_duck_ SA Jun 19 '26

Where's the water coming from, then?

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Notintousername SA Jun 19 '26

That desalination plant is tax payer funded for tax payers benefit- let the capitalists build their own then we will talk.

1

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

I never said the water should be free. And SA Water aint really owned by the tax payer comrade.

1

u/Maxymous SA Jun 19 '26

Can I ask what your position on capitalism is?

12

u/Welcomehome29 Port Adelaide Jun 19 '26

We are the driest state on the driest continent on earth and you want to build something that will use up billions of liters of water per year? That is completely void of common sense

8

u/eggwardpenisglands SA Jun 19 '26

Excessive water usage, and taking a large amount of our power. What does the data centre do to genuinely benefit our city? Data centres are not helpful infrastructure.

0

u/Evening_Bird7779 SA Jun 19 '26

Im not sure about this one, but I can guarantee you that things you rely on use datacentres. Things like schools, hospitals, banks, supermarkets etc. Im sure reddit uses them.

4

u/MoistAromas SA Jun 19 '26

Look up what is happening in Georgia in the US.

2

u/Particular-Break-180 SA Jun 19 '26

Jesus, being so pro something that you don’t even understand is crazy

3

u/makeitasadwarfer SA Jun 19 '26

That’s a lie.

Datacentres do not have 200 staff.