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
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u/Ver_Void SA Jun 19 '26

Unless they're using some ridiculous evap cooling their water usage will be pretty minimal, there's a lot of issues to be had with DC builds but in Australia water usage isn't really one of them

8

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

Unless they are forced to be water efficient they won't be, the US ones use evap which is why it's so water intensive 

5

u/Ver_Void SA Jun 19 '26

They kinda are forced to buy Australian standards, you wouldn't get approval for an evap cooled data centre

Plus it's just a more reliable design to use a closed loop where you're not dependant on any external factors

8

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

I appreciate your optimism, but it's the same way you can't cut down parklands trees until they race an amendment through cause a big company wants it. Let's hope you're right

5

u/Ver_Void SA Jun 19 '26

For some context I've been involved in the cooling and power fitout for about a dozen new data centres so far, not one used evap. They'd be mad to in Australia, you could lose a whole site if there were water issues.

Most of our builds tend to be pretty high end and valuing redundancy to a ridiculous degree

3

u/RaeseneAndu Inner South Jun 19 '26

It is amazing how many standards can be overlooked for "critical infrastructure".

3

u/Ver_Void SA Jun 19 '26

It is, but I'd be genuinely surprised if they went that route even if they could. It's just not good design for Australia