By Perry Williams, chief business correspondent
AI infrastructure juggernaut Firmus has won council approval for its controversial Bell Bay data centre in Tasmania despite a prominent protest as locals voiced their fears over water, electricity and sound vibration issues.
Tasmania’s George Town Council gave the go-ahead for Firmus’s AI factory at Bell Bay, on the former Gunns Pulp Mill site where two decades previously thousands of locals fought a doomed woodchip facility.
The council in July had requested additional time to weigh a raft of issues as the $15.5bn Firmus, co-founded by Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield, worked to fast-track the development of factories across Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria.
Its decision to approve the 288MW Tasmanian project will position the Firmus facility among the state’s largest power users and open up a major new source of jobs and investment despite thousands of people signing an online petition against the development.
Two other sites, in Launceston and Wesley Vale, are also planned, with the trio of facilities to use a combined 418MW of power; about a third of the state’s average winter energy use.
Green groups and community protesters have urged Australia to follow Singapore and parts of the US in imposing a moratorium on new data centres until more comprehensive planning and regulatory regimes were in place.
The SA government has announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence in a bid to “maximise benefits and minimise unwanted impacts” from the AI boom.
Dozens of Tasmanian locals asked a string of questions to the council meeting on Tuesday afternoon on energy, water and sound concerns once the Firmus factory came online.
Conditions added
While many were not classified local council matters, several conditions were added to the project, including noise surveys and air-quality tests, along with limits on the use of 276 diesel generators. Firmus is riding a wave of backing for its AI factories from industry heavyweights including Nvidia and Blackstone, but people who live near its proposed plants have questioned whether the company could be trusted operating a data centre.
Data centre operators are also grappling with proposed rules laid down by Anthony Albanese for developments to procure enough renewable energy supply for their energy needs over and above existing volumes.
Federal Assistant Technology Minister Andrew Charlton said on Tuesday that he understood questions raised by local communities.
“I know there are a lot of concerns out there, a lot of concerns from people who find themselves suddenly living across the road from a data centre, who find their school or their preschool across the road from a data centre,” Dr Charlton told ABC Perth.
“There are concerns about noise. There are concerns about the construction impacts, and there are concerns about whether or not we should be using land in prime locations for housing or other uses.
“These are really significant concerns.”
National cabinet is due to meet on Wednesday to sign off the national standards for data centres but continues to face opposition from Queensland, which has fought the imposition of a renewable-only rule given its vast gas resources.
Firmus in July pledged to develop excess renewable supplies and fund its own transmission infrastructure in a bid to ease concerns over rampant data centre demand draining the power grid and increasing prices.
As it seeks to build momentum for a blockbuster sharemarket float in October, the AI infrastructure operator will build at least 2.5 megawatt hours of new back-up firming energy capacity for every megawatt of contracted electricity demand under its policy blueprint.
This article first appeared in The Australian as Firmus wins AI factory go-ahead in Tassie despite protest.
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