Adelaide Hills residents vow to fight proposed 1,200MW AI data centre

Local organiser Magdalene Lippett said residents opposed the construction over concerns about land use, water supplies and the impact of noise and light pollution. "We're not going away," she said. "We don't want the data centre, we will fight it using every legal means possible." She said the community was not opposed to development, citing the Tungkillo Battery Energy Storage System being built at the nearby existing substation. "There just has to be a point where we slow down a little bit and start to question what trade-offs we're giving up to have this AI data centre there and what are the risks for ... primary production, the agriculture and the lifestyles of everyone around that area," Ms Lippett said.

Quantum DC had scheduled two community consultation sessions this week but postponed them to late November amid safety concerns. In their absence, locals held a meeting in Tungkillo on Thursday and a rally in Mannum on Saturday. Ms Lippett said she had communicated with Quantum DC officials by email, but they declined to attend Saturday's event.

Quantum DC chief executive Alby Tomassi said about 80 per cent of the project's electricity needs would be met by two on-site substations connecting to existing ElectraNet power lines, with supply via solar and wind contracts. The facility would also have an on-site gas-fired power station to provide firming capacity, and would use captured and recirculated rainwater rather than water from the nearby River Murray or existing groundwater reserves. The consultations have been rescheduled for November 20 and 21. "We respect the community's views, and that is why our engagement is taking place before anything is lodged, so that we hear and consider those views first," Mr Tomassi said. "What we hear will help inform and shape the proposal we lodge, and a summary of what we heard and how we responded will accompany our application."

At 120 hectares, the infrastructure build would cover an area about a third of the size of Adelaide's CBD, larger than the "Colossus" campus operated by Elon Musk's SpaceXSI, which is less than 100 hectares in size.

Planning Minister Nick Champion said any application would need to pass through a "rigorous planning system", including meeting power and water requirements. He said the assessment could be handed to the State Commission Assessment Panel or to the minister for evaluation. "Whatever the pathway, the process is rigorous," he said. Government members did not attend Saturday's meeting in Mannum, though representatives from the opposition and crossbench did address protesters.

The Liberal Party, Greens and One Nation all support the local push against the project, though they differ on how to approach data centres in South Australia. "We're not against data centres but at the end of the day you've got to take community sentiment into consideration," said Liberal upper house leader Nicola Centofanti. "This community is saying right from day dot: 'We don't want it here.'" Greens leader Robert Simms called on the state government to put a moratorium on any new data centres and to include data centres within their royal commission. One Nation MLC Carlos Quaremba said his party took "the principled position" of looking "at everything as risk-versus-reward", and suggested a tri-party alliance similar to the one that backed blocking gas fracking in the state's south-east could be forged on the data centre issue.