Mastodawn

LordMortis 1d ago

Dr Micha Campbell

Hey Perth friends, there is a proposed data centre at Hazelmere, on the Helena River.

From a purely water perspective this seems like a bad move. Precipitation in SWWA has declined, dam inflows have declined, groundwater is over extracted, groundwater recharge has likely declined - no idea how they're planning to cool this thing, but I doubt they're going to pay to pump desal up from Kwinana...

Submissions close 30th March at 5 pm AWST. (Edit because I got the date wrong!)

#WestCoastBestCoast #WesternAustralia #Water #Sustainability #Perth

https://swanengage.swan.wa.gov.au/da-62026-data-centre

DA-6/2026 - Data Centre

Lots 14 & 15 Stirling Crescent, HAZELMERE WA 6055

Swan Engage

The Boxing Kangaroo 2d ago

@michcampbell North Queensland would be a much better choice.

Dr Micha Campbell 2d ago

@platypusparent not necessarily.

The water resources aren't as strained in NQ as in SWWA, but the water supply isn't bottomless. NQ water resourcing also isn't as diversified as SWWA's - what happens when we get a repeat of the Millennium drought? Building more dams to cool data centres wouid be dystopic, but I wouldn't but it past the Chrisafulli govt to have a crack!

Ariaflame 1d ago

@michcampbell I'm not sure if I count as 'surrounding areas', being a South of the River person

Dr Micha Campbell 1d ago

@ariaflame I reckon if you're in Perth at all, you're close enough - it's Perth's water and energy resources that will be used after all :)

Ariaflame 1d ago

@michcampbell Can you see anywhere in the documentation if they've said what their estimated usage will be? They have a 'generator façade' but no information about what generator is meant there.

Dr Micha Campbell 1d ago

@ariaflame no idea - it does look like they plan to have a big solar array and battery bank, which is good - but I had a wuick look and couldn't see their estimated usage (for water or energy).

Ariaflame 1d ago

@michcampbell I also see a LOT of 'fuel storage' and 'generator'

Herschel H Temerity 1d ago

@michcampbell just one correction to this post: the actual submission date is the 30th not the 20th. If you see this after the 20th there is still time to submit your response.

Dr Micha Campbell 1d ago

@HerschelHTemerity oh wonderful, thank-you! I don't know how I misread that so badly 😂

Steveg58 1d ago

@michcampbell
The Helena river is not so much a river as a fossil watercourse. Anyone expecting to draw more than a paddling pool worth of water is going to be sorely disappointed. Even in my childhood when it still used to flood in winter it was utterly dry for most of the year.

Dr Micha Campbell 1d ago

@Steveg58 I didn't mean to imply they would be drawing directly from the river :)

Steveg58 1d ago

@michcampbell
Fair enough. But the energy cost of running the desalination and the diversion of a critical scarce resource is enough reason to try and stop the venture and that doesn't seem to get an actual explicit mention.
Every call to arms seems to focus on the river which is a straw man argument that, when it is discredited, could hurt any attempt to stop the data centre.

Steveg58 1d ago

@michcampbell
If you want to get people riled up then we have been on water restrictions for 25+ years. Currently there are another round of Water Corporation adverts saying that we need to reduce water consumption even further. Can you repurpose that advert to show how much of that water would be needlessly wasted by gifting it to a data centre?

Dr Micha Campbell 1d ago

@Steveg58 that's a great idea, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Steveg58 1d ago

I'm 67 years old, I'm struggling with cognitive decline and I lack both the spoons and resources. I'm willing to stand up and be counted but your generation is going to have to do the legwork.

Steveg58 1d ago

@michcampbell
They may be able to use groundwater but I don't think there is an aquifer there at the foothills. There is no water in the Helena River to use, it only ever had seasonal flow since the Mundaring Weir was built. So they will be using desalinated water at a heavy industrial discount.

@michcampbell Can't find anything in the attached documents that says they're going to use water cooling. The planning documents would have to mention the water supply being any greater than the 40L/s needed for fire extinguishing and shared between other developments. There also isn't anything notable about the amount of disposed water through sewerage

Not A Dropbear 1d ago

@jon_dog @michcampbell Sustainability Strategy (at bottom right of screen click "See more", then it's the last document in the list) says it's a "proposed 96 MW data centre", and that it has a "target potable [Water Usage Effectiveness] of 0.1 L/kWh". It also mentions "cooling systems refrigerant use", so at least some of its cooling will be refrigerative not evaporative.

How much is 0.1 L/kWh? Convert it to 0.1 kL/MWh, and we have
96MWh/h × 0.1 kL/MWh = 9.6 kL/h
So about 2.7 L/s or not quite 10 tonnes per hour.

Dr Micha Campbell 1d ago

@NotADropbear @jon_dog thanks, I hadn't managed to find that :)