In early 2022, Blacktown Council approved the construction and operation of a 1.2 megawatt data centre on the southern side of 57 Station Road in Seven Hills.

Yet to be built, that small data centre will have a gross floor area of 630sqm.

In late 2022, a subsequent application was lodged and approved for a 22 metre tall 19.2 megawatt data centre with 8076sqm of gross floor area.

With a site area of 2.57 hectares, the latest development will be located towards the rear of the site and will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The data centre will be cooled using a system of air handling units located on each floor.

This cooling system has been designed to maintain a constant temperature within the data halls throughout the year.

Data centres require sophisticated energy back-up systems to ensure the operator’s customers are always able to access their data.

To this end, the development will includes a system of lithium-ion batteries and diesel back-up generators designed to minimise downtime during a power outage.

In addition, the operation will be supported by two new underground transmission feeders (33 kilovolts) from Endeavour Energy’s Seven Hills Zone substation.

Data centres are places used by organisations to store their electronic computer applications and data.

This can include personal data (e.g. Facebook account or Instagram photos), corporate data (e.g. payroll system) or sensitive government information (e.g. Medicare records).

As new technologies evolve – such as driverless cars, faster mobile data networks and artificial intelligence – more data centres will be required in the right locations to store the volume of electronic data accessed and created by Australians.