New Zealand data center firm Datagrid has acquired another six hectares of land to expand its campus on New Zealand’s South Island.
The New Zealand Overseas Investment Office (NZ OiO) has approved the land acquisition in Makarewa, Invercargill. Datagrid founder Rémi Galasso said on LinkedIn the purchased will allow "the project to reach a total area of 49 hectares (121 acres).”
The NZ OiO site hasn’t been updated to include June or July approvals at the time of writing.
Galasso said the extension will enable a “significant” AI data center zone supported by up to 1GW of renewable energy; the construction of a new power substation; and a cable landing station for the upcoming Te Waipounamu subsea cable.
Perrine Dhalluin, Datagrid CEO, said: “This is an important milestone for [the] Datagrid project and we are extremely pleased the OiO has approved our application. Our next step is to obtain resource consent through our Fast Track consenting application currently being considered. This will enable us to get going as soon as possible with construction. The AI data center market is booming, and we believe Southland New Zealand is the best location in the Asia Pacific region to develop an AI training cluster.”
She continued: “Extensive land, cool climate, green power, safe environment and diverse connectivity are key success factors in this market. Our objective is to secure 240MW in phase one and grow over time up to 1GW, which is why we needed to extend our land from 43 hectares to 49 hectares. This is now done.”
First announced in December 2020, Datagrid – founded by Galasso, then of Hawaiki Cable, alongside Callplus Ltd founder Malcolm Dick – aims to develop a large data center on New Zealand’s South Island.
The company previously planned to develop build up to ten 6,500 sqm (70,000 sq ft) modules totaling around 150MW of capacity. It acquired 43-hectares in Makarewa, a small town 7km north of Invercargill, in early 2022 and filed a land use application later that year.
The University of Otago is set to be an anchor tenant of the facility.
Partnering with Meridian Energy, the facility will be the first hyperscale data center in the area. It will draw energy from the Manapouri hydropower scheme, which is due to have a large surplus once the Rio Tinto aluminum smelting facility at Tiwai Point closes.
The plant was due to close in 2024, but signed a contract to keep the site running until 2044.
BW Digital is a minority shareholder in Datagrid; it previously acquired Galasso’s Hawaiki cable venture.
