Calls for data centre moratorium 'until we get the rules right'

The Conservation Council is calling for a moratorium on new and expanded data centre developments in the ACT, amid "increasing concerns" for the city's energy grid and water supplies.

There are currently fifteen data centres across the ACT, the first of which was built in 2007.

But Conservation Council ACT director Simon Copland is concerned about the "potential massive expansion" of data centres before proper checks and balances are put in place.

"This is a point of time, given the growth of AI, that we need to stop and have a conversation about this rather than rushing to approve everything," Conservation Council ACT director Simon Copland said.

"We think that the government should be putting in a moratorium until we get the rules right about how we can develop this industry into the future."

Front of mind is a second CDC Data Centre in Beard, a suburb near Canberra Airport, which was conditionally approved in September.

The proposed $200 million centre is a three-storey building comprising of 12 data halls, and would be located next to another CDC data centre in the suburb.

The application for the project was submitted a week before the ACT government promised to develop a data centre framework to "provide clear rules about where data centres can be located, the standards they must meet, and how proposals will be assessed".

But Mr Copland said there needed to be a halt on the development of data centres in Canberra until tougher regulations were in place, both locally and federally.

"We're seeing a potential massive expansion of this infrastructure and we're worried about the impact this is going to have on our energy system, on our water, on our biodiversity and on our community more broadly," he said.

Power, water consumption concerns 

Mr Copland said the first stage of the Beard development was expected to use 5 per cent of the ACT's peak energy, with the proposed second centre using "double that". 

"A project like that is going to put a huge amount of strain on the [electricity] grid,"

he said.

Mr Copland said there was also community-wide concern about the impact data centres were having on Canberra's water supply.

"We know that climate forecasts suggest that the ACT is going to see reduced water flows through our major rivers," he said.

"And so we want to ensure that we actually have the water to be able to maintain these data centres into the future and it doesn't risk the health of our river system or the ability for Canberra to use water for other very important things.

"We're suggesting that [data centres] must operate in areas where there is a secure water supply, and we'd like to see the investment in technology such as closed-loop cooling, which uses less water, to ensure that we're not pulling off the water system consistently."

The Conservation Council is not alone in these concerns; the ACT Greens and other community groups have also called for a moratorium. 

And Independent Senator for the ACT David Pocock called on the federal government to introduce a tax on data centres operators, along with stronger environmental protections, in June.

But Chief Minister Andrew Barr dismissed the idea in August, saying "the ACT already has rigorous planning, environmental, utility and regulatory requirements". 

Federally, the government is also working on a new set of national standards and oversight for artificial intelligence, including forcing large-scale AI data centres to minimise water use and fund their own power supply.

'We actually have to do a better job'

Beyond the ACT, concerns around data centre locations and their demand on resources have led to protests in Australia and around the world. 

Just this past weekend, community backlash saw plans for an AI data centre in Sydney's Cooks River scrapped; one planned for Lane Cove and another for Guildford were dropped in September. 

But CDC chief executive Greg Boorer said over the past 20 years of operating in Canberra "nobody's ever complained about our facilities", adding that the company already uses closed-loop cooling.

"These things, if done correctly, are not terrible pieces of infrastructure, but they've got to be done in the right locations,"

he said.

He said Australia's planning rules had already helped the sector avoid becoming like the United States.

"I think it was always going to happen in the United States because they really prioritised speed and in some ways greed over doing the right thing, choosing the right locations, being a good community participant with regards to adding energy to the actual grid," he said.

"In Texas, for example, just a free for all, every man for themselves, dropping in literally gas jet engines next to residential locations."

However, Mr Boorer said it was time for the sector to be more proactive in its engagement with local communities. 

Until recently, security concerns had led to a secretive approach to planning developments, but Mr Boorer said a lot had changed since they built their first centre in 2007.

"We actually have to do a better job," he said.

"The last thing you want is for a community to find out about a data centre proposal through some planning portal on a government website."