Residents sent 432 questions about an AI data centre in the Adelaide Hills. The developer has stopped to answer them

A Melbourne developer has put its plan for a giant AI data centre in the Adelaide Hills on hold after a revolt by the people who would live next to it.

Quantum DC said on Thursday it would not lodge a development application this year for the Tungkillo Compute and Energy Hub, a 1,200-megawatt data centre with its own gas-fired power generation, planned for farmland on Collins Road, Tungkillo, in the Adelaide Hills.

Chief executive Alby Tomassi said the company had “misread the strength of feeling about this proposal” and apologised. The company admitted its early engagement had caused confusion and frustration.

It has also cancelled drop-in sessions at the Mannum Leisure Centre planned for 20 and 21 November. Sessions in Tungkillo and Mannum had already been postponed in October over safety concerns. Mr Tomassi said it would not be effective to meet 500 people and answer 432 questions in that format.

What did residents object to?

The list is long: water use, electricity demand, noise, lighting near the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve, traffic on unsealed roads, bushfire risk, the loss of farmland and the local environment.

More than 350 people contacted the company directly. Residents compiled 432 questions, held their own meetings in late October that drew a few hundred people, and protested in Mannum last month. An online petition against the project passed 13,000 signatures.

Mid Murray Council Mayor Simone Bailey said the council had “big concerns”, including the site’s distance from a CFS station and its effect on the water table. Tungkillo resident Magdalene Lippett, who opposes the project, said the company needed to accept that “no means no”.

Is the project dead?

No. Quantum DC says the proposal has not been abandoned. It plans a longer-term engagement program and will set up a panel of independent experts to review its specialist studies and publish their findings. It has given no timeline.

Why does 1,200 megawatts matter?

A data centre’s size is measured by the power it can draw, not its floor space. At 1,200 megawatts, Tungkillo would be sized like a large coal or gas power station, which is why the company planned to generate its own on site.

AI is driving the demand. Training and running large AI models takes vast banks of chips that use far more electricity, and need far more cooling, than ordinary computing. Developers are looking for cheap land near power and water, and regional Australia has both. That puts them on the same ground as farmers and towns.

What are the politicians saying?

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the “whole episode” showed the state needed a strong and strict regulatory framework, one that made sure community interests were represented and enforced.

Chris Picton, the minister responsible for AI, said the government is preparing legislation covering energy, water and land use. He said data centres are separate from the state’s Royal Commission into AI, whose terms of reference, released in early October, do not include them.

Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn called the site “prime agricultural land” and wants data centres added to the royal commission. On Wednesday, Greens leader Robert Simms moved a motion in the Legislative Council calling on the government to oppose the Tungkillo project and impose a statewide moratorium on new data centres. One Nation’s SA leader, Cory Bernardi, welcomed the delay, said data centres were not bad in themselves, and wants a pause until an upper house inquiry finishes. The Greens, One Nation and the Liberals backed that inquiry; Labor did not.

Is this happening elsewhere?

Yes. An AI data centre proposed for Sydney’s south, near the Cooks River, was scrapped at the weekend, one of several in New South Wales dropped after local opposition.

The industry says it is caught in the middle. Belinda Dennett, chief executive of the peak body Data Centres Australia, which does not represent Quantum DC, said communities want early engagement but also detailed answers that operators often do not yet have. She said the lack of federal rules was a challenge for every state.

What does it mean for South Australians?

The questions residents are asking at Tungkillo, about water, the grid and who pays, are the same ones every region will face as the AI boom looks for land. South Australia is now likely to be one of the first states to write the answers into law.