Politics
Plans for New Zealand’s first AI datacentre spark local opposition amid environmental concerns
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Plans for New Zealand’s first AI datacentre spark local opposition amid environmental concerns
Singapore-based Datagrid has secured approval to build a NZ$3.5bn AI datacentre in Makarewa, while local residents and advocates demand greater transparency.
- Datagrid secured approval to build the datacentre on a 49-hectare site near Invercargill, with construction due to begin this year and operations by 2028.
- The datacentre will become New Zealand’s second largest electricity user at 280MW and has approval to draw up to 604,800 litres of groundwater daily and operate 84 diesel backup generators.
- Economic geographer Angus Dowell said the project raised “a lot of red flags” and provided only short-term economic benefits with minimal long-term employment.
- Southland Sustainable Resource coalition chair Kelly Blomfield said residents felt the region had been “sold out” and that attempts to obtain information from Datagrid had failed.
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