'Suck all our power and suck all our water': Hunter council fights against $3.7b data centre

A Hunter council has voted unanimously to object to a proposed $3.7 billion data centre on the former Hydro Aluminium smelter site.

Cessnock City Council will lodge a formal objection to AirTrunk's proposed 540-megawatt data centre at Loxford, and has asked Canberra to freeze approvals of data centres nationwide until federal rules are in place.

Councillors backed an urgent motion from Kurri Kurri-area councillor Susanne Dixon on Wednesday night, directing the general manager to lodge an objection through the NSW Planning Portal before submissions close on November 11.

The motion says the state-significant development at Hart Road would bring 24-hour noise, including low-frequency noise from air-cooled plant, and place heavy demand on the grid and local power infrastructure. It also raises traffic and road impacts during construction.

Cr Dixon told the chamber a facility of that scale and continuous operation "brings unique environmental and community interface challenges", even on industrial land.

She said high-powered fans, heat exchangers and air handling units would run constantly to stop the servers overheating, creating a "constant low-frequency hum".

She said backup diesel generators would not run continuously but would be tested regularly and would be loud when they ran.

Cr Mitchell Hill moved an amendment, seconded by Cr Mitchell Lea, asking the council to note the NSW government's new data centre policy framework and guidelines and the amended Electricity Infrastructure Investment bill.

It also asked the council to write to Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy Andrew Charlton calling for the moratorium until federal legislation and frameworks are adopted.

He said the objection could serve "a dual purpose" of raising concerns and setting out what should be addressed if the Department of Planning were to approve the project.

Cr Quintin King said he supported the objection but would not back Cr Hill's proposed wording on energy, which referred to investment in renewable generation and storage.

He described it as feeling like a "Trojan horse" and said the point was that more energy was needed regardless of its source.

Cr Hill said the project had both positives and negatives.

He said some residents recalled the economic benefit of the smelter and were glad to see development proposed on the land, which remained zoned industrial.

He said some online criticism, such as claims about heavy water use, was inaccurate because the facility would be dry-cooled, but that residents near the site had raised "valid concerns".

Councillor Tracey Harrington said she was not opposed to data centres but questioned whether Loxford was the right site.

She said the proponent's own assessment predicted a combined noise level of 42.5 decibels at one nearby residence, with some individual predictions within one or two decibels of the limits.

She also raised cumulative air quality and emergency management risks from diesel storage and batteries alongside the power station.

Councillor Jessica Jurd said she "personally would not want to live anywhere near something like this".

She said her main concerns were the project's demand on power and water, and its proximity to homes.

She said she had spoken to a company representative at one of the proponent's briefings, who told her more data centres could follow in the Cessnock area.

"If we end up with more of these, my biggest concern is, I think there'll be a lot of people that will be without power, because, I mean, we're getting rid of coal," she said.

Cr Jurd said she did not believe batteries could cover the demand.

"The batteries are proven to not last enough to power what we currently have," she said, adding the data centre would draw about 550 megawatts.

"I mean, we don't need data centres to survive. We need water to survive. We need power to survive," Cr Jurd said.

"This thing just seems like it's just going to suck all our power and suck all our water.

"Last time I checked, I need those two things."

AirTrunk, which is owned by a consortium led by Blackstone, has proposed a $3.7 billion, two-storey facility on 75 hectares owned by the McCloy Group. The company has said it would create more than 350 ongoing jobs and several thousand during construction, use air cooling with minimal water, and pay for its own grid connection.

It has also offered more than $37 million towards district infrastructure, including more than $12 million towards the council's share of the proposed Loxford District Sporting Facility and Multipurpose Community Facility.

The substantive motion passed unanimously.

The council is not the consent authority for the project, which will be decided by the state.