CORRECTION: In this video Robbie says, “The centre will also draw 220m litres of water every year.” He should have said, “The centre is consented to draw 220m litres of water every year,” as stated in the quotation from BusinessDesk on screen. There is no guarantee the facility will use all the water it is consented to draw.

A massive data centre in Southland is moving ahead after receiving multiple resource consents from local authorities. Datagrid, the company building the data centre, has now signed a 140MW electricity option contract with Mercury to help power their 280MW “AI factory”, which is currently scheduled to open in 2028.

Datagrid’s ultimate goal is to expand the facility to a 1GW data centre. For comparison, New Zealand’s total electricity load currently sits at roughly 5GW.

Made with the support of NZ On Air.