FEATURE
Power, cooling, water and computing facilities must be planned as a unit. electricity consumption but may increase on-site water use, while dry cooling can substantially reduce water consumption at the development itself but may require more electricity, particularly during hot weather. Where this additional electricity is supplied by water-intensive thermal power generation, the reduction in on-site water use may be partly offset by greater water consumption elsewhere in the power system. Direct-to-chip liquid cooling can support highdensity AI infrastructure efficiently, but its overall energy and water performance depends on how the closed-loop liquid system is integrated with the facility’ s wider cooling and heatrejection systems.
Power Usage Effectiveness is therefore an inadequate measure on its own. A facility might achieve a good PUE while still using large amounts of water in a place where that resource is already limited. On the other hand, a design that uses a little more electricity could deliver a better local environmental outcome if it greatly reduces water consumption.
The right decision begins with the site. Developers need to understand water availability, recycled-water infrastructure, treatment requirements and climate before fixing the cooling strategy. Waste heat recovery can add value where a viable nearby user exists, but its usefulness also depends on local conditions.
The same logic applies across the wider development. Grid capacity, renewable supply, water, land and fibre cannot be evaluated as separate checkboxes and reconciled after the site is acquired. They interact and improving one part of the system can create pressure elsewhere.
Australia’ s emerging framework recognises that relationship. If implemented well, it could encourage developers to treat large AI campuses as active participants in local infrastructure rather than passive consumers of electricity and water.
That does not mean asking every data centre to become self-sufficient. It means setting clearer expectations around additional power supply, network contribution, realistic demand flexibility and responsible resource use.
The projects most likely to succeed should deal with those dependencies from the start; power, cooling, water and computing facilities must be planned as a unit and the site should be chosen in light of what the surrounding infrastructure can support throughout the facility’ s entire life. •
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