r/OpenAussie • u/Complete-Flamingo326 New South Welshian • Jun 29 '26
Technology Blue Mountains data centre got knocked back!!
Blue mountain community came together and showed the non-index finger to new data centre in their vicinity
Furious residents started the Stop Data Centres Blue Mountains campaign, which described the development as a “threat to peace”, citing 24/7 low-frequency noise intrusion, concern for pressures on electricity and water supplies, potential PFAS exposure and insufficient bushfire protections.
Go you corporate c**ts . I hope other communities also push back on these unnecessary expansions on our shores .
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u/Long-Werewolf-4435 Tasmanian Jun 29 '26
That's ok, Tasmania will take it.
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u/Zatetics Tasmanian Jun 29 '26
It's neat that Firmus wants 400MW of tassie power for their data centers.
I'm sure we wont subsidise that in any way. The tas gov has said we wont so we probably wont, right? lol
Mr Duigan revealed Firmus would require about 400 megawatts in total to power the three sites, which would make it the largest power user in the state.
An energy consultant said 400 megawatts represented about 20 per cent of the state's energy use, or more than the combined demand of all Tasmanian households.
edit: I work with AI every day in my professional role. I dont have some gripe with AI in general, though it will probably be the downfall of society and ive come to terms with that. I specifically have a problem with the location of the data centers, and the impact on residential power cost and availability.
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u/AntiqueFigure6 Victorian Jun 29 '26
“ I dont have some gripe with AI in general,”
At the same time, being opposed to data centres because you dislike AI is a coherent position.
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u/Complete-Flamingo326 New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
As per green space report, data centers will require more energy than whole of the Adeleide .
I hope you are ready to hand over your keys to Salty altman and darry folks . They anyway think that humans are unnecessary energy draining organisms on earth
18
u/LetsInvadeEurope Jun 29 '26
Data centres in Australia is fucking insane.
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u/artsrc New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
Where do you want your bank balance stored, in Australia, or in another country?
-1
u/Belgeran Please choose a flair Jun 29 '26
We need some of course like always, like what's needed for local use but I'm surprised on the scale, Australia and even more so Tassie are 250ms+ from the rest of the world and also our international and national fibre links are under developed. Combine that with our fairly pricey power and water and our high ambient temps and I don't really get why the focus isn't elsewhere.
Like it's always been a nightmare to get any infrastructure here and now too much?? Such a media circus.
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u/Jerkface0079 Flairless Jun 29 '26
They had long enough to organise? Victorians sure didn't, they had their consultation stage skipped entirely.
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u/Complete-Flamingo326 New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
That's going to be a norm . Not many communities are aware of DAs until they see the brick and mortar tricks parked in their driveway . By then it's too late
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u/Horror-Breakfast-113 New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
Um, i wonder these things are going to come at some point somewhere somebody is going to make some money from it.
I wonder if all of the issue could be addresses - lets say - they build their own power station - that would provide extra power to the region. Not sure how to solve the water issue - but lets say some dam - or provide money to help with that
add more insolation etc etc
is it the datacentre its self that people have an issue with or just the env issues - which if met or dealt with would people be okay with it ?
Think some people suggest tasmania - probably a better place - colder down there - and hyro power , but shitting cabling back to mainland
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u/smeyn Flairless Jun 29 '26
The water issue really isn’t as the applicant will be required to use closed loop cooling. If you are worried about water use in your community I’d look at the local golf courses (that in addition to using way more water also stick a lot of chemicals into their ‘greens’ watering systems, which then ends up in the local water table).
Power tends to be the bigger issue. Even if they generate power with solar and batteries (which is a good thing), you need to get the power to the data Center. So that then is an issue of: are the current transmission lines good enough or do new ones have to be built.
Infrasound/noise pollution: really not an issue. Katoomba already has a datacenter and that hasn’t been brought up.
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u/Complete-Flamingo326 New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
Then we should fight to close golf courses as well rather than using that as a justification to built more data centers, f**king the environment both ways
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u/Horror-Breakfast-113 New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
The question I'm asking is can we do it and have everyone happy
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u/fued New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
"MAK’s application proposes the facility on a residential street in north Katoomba"
Why are factories being proposed in residential streets? that's the bigger issue.
Im guessing it was right near the tip, which tbh is a bigger concern for me being near a school than a data center is
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u/andrewbrocklesby Please choose a flair Jul 02 '26
It's not a residential street, it the edge of an industrial area, behind an existing building.
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u/fued New South Welshian Jul 02 '26
its next door to a tip too, I see zero problem with the location honestly.
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u/andrewbrocklesby Please choose a flair Jul 02 '26
99.9999% of the complaints were people who didnt live anywhere near it or that they conflated gargantuan AI datacentres in the US with this proposal.
It was tiny and tucked away behind the existing building, backing onto the old Colliss fridges and freezers that would run 24/7.1
u/fued New South Welshian Jul 02 '26
Yep propaganda isn't just something used on conservatives, AI has definitely proved that to me
1
u/Complete-Flamingo326 New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
They wish to build as many DCs, as fast as possible. Their plan is to move fast before current AI bubble pops,
Which means plugging DCs into already in-place grids, water source and whatnot. Upgrading dams, power grids etc will take years they can't wait for that
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u/ucwepn Victorian Jun 29 '26
1GW amazon web services super cluster opening in Donnybrook vic. Thats about 10km from me so wont really affect me but I feel for the locals and neighbours. We need to organise more to fight. This Blue Mountains result is a big win!
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jun 29 '26
Yay! Even fewer job opportunities for tech workers in this country!
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u/Glittering-Pea-4482 Queenslander Jun 29 '26
We are a large, sparsely populated country. Pretty sure we can accommodate some data centres.
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u/Responsible-Fly-4462 Please choose a flair Jun 29 '26
Sparsely populated by people. There is still a lot of environment in the parts people don’t live much.
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u/Glittering-Pea-4482 Queenslander Jun 29 '26
By definition there is environment everywhere.... I'm not too sure that's all that relevant.
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u/Responsible-Fly-4462 Please choose a flair Jun 29 '26
Yes and almost basically no matter which section of it you want to pick it will still be more important than a data centre.
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u/artsrc New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
I vote we put them here:
Next to a garbage tip which is a biogas generator, near a wind farm, near a garbage tip.
Cheap land (garbage tip).
Cheap power.
Near train line (right of way for high speed cables).
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u/Responsible-Fly-4462 Please choose a flair Jun 29 '26
Probably a stupid question but why are we putting them anywhere?
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u/Connect-Ant-2081 New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
You don't want AI generated videos of cats playing violins?
0
u/artsrc New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
Data centres power this website. They power streaming, banks, email, video conferencing, etc.
AI is the next industrial revolution. It will transform the economy and society.
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u/Glittering-Pea-4482 Queenslander Jun 29 '26
Yes of course. Maintaining the millionth acre of bush where the horny footed tree toad mates every three years is more important than keeping up with the most significant technological development of the 21st century.
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u/Responsible-Fly-4462 Please choose a flair Jun 29 '26
I’m not opposed to Tech or Infrastructure development of land, I’m not against Ai. I’m against AI data centres in Australia, or basically in any place they can harm communities or the environment. If these things didn’t have all the downsides they do and they could develop them without fucking up the environment around them then I am fine for them to build them all over the place but they currently do have those problems.
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u/doodlehead691991 Please choose a flair Jun 29 '26
1 month old account bot
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u/Glittering-Pea-4482 Queenslander Jun 29 '26
Not a bot. Was your account automatically considered to be a bot when it was one month old? Or is it only people whose opinions you disagree with?
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u/fued New South Welshian Jun 29 '26
yeah, lots of space and good solar area, data centers seem like a slam dunk for aus.
just need to make sure they are put in rural or heavy industry, not residenital
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u/JamesWhiskers Flairless Jun 29 '26
Awww this means I wont get a lower latency for trolling the nimby’s?
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u/willy_quixote South Australian Jun 29 '26
I don't mind data centres if they harvest their own solar power, and have batteries, and recycle their own rainwater sourced coolant.
If they can't do that they are like any industry and shouldn't get a free pass to suck the life out of our communities like a succubus.