A community group is demanding answers about a $3.5 billion AI data centre proposed for Makarewa, just north of Invercargill — and they're holding a public meeting to get them.
The Southland Sustainable Resource Coalition has organised an information evening next Wednesday at 7:00pm at the Invercargill Workingmen's Club, with a live-stream option for those who can't make it in person. Engineer Nigel McCord and environmentalist Karen Maw will speak, followed by an open Q&A. Southland District Mayor Rob Scott and Datagrid founder Rémi Galasso have been invited, though neither has confirmed they'll show.
The project at the centre of it all is significant. Singaporean firm Datagrid NZ has secured nine resource consents from Environment Southland and the Southland District Council to build what would be New Zealand's first dedicated AI data centre. The 49-hectare facility would draw 280MW of electricity continuously — making it the second-largest power consumer in New Zealand after the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter — extract up to 604,800 litres of groundwater daily, run up to 84 diesel backup generators during outages, and require the removal of an existing local wetland. Construction is set to begin this year, with operations projected to start by 2028.
Chief executive Rémi Galasso has previously defended the project's scale, saying Southland's cool climate reduces the need for water cooling, and that the company plans to secure long-term renewable energy contracts rather than compete with the residential power grid.
Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell has pointed to the 1,200 temporary construction jobs the project is expected to create, plus around 50 permanent roles once operational. National agency Invest New Zealand is chasing NZ$25–30 billion in foreign investment for AI infrastructure, and a Boston Consulting Group report estimated the sector could generate up to NZ$70 billion in domestic economic activity over the next decade.
Not everyone is convinced. Angus Dowell, an economic geographer, is blunt about the long-term calculus: "Data centers provide short-term economic benefits during construction, but they are incredibly low employers long-term. The sustained benefits to local economic development simply don't stack up."
Coalition chair Kelly Blomfield says residents near the site feel shut out. The meeting, she says, is about putting verified facts in front of the community rather than leaving them to sort through the noise themselves.
Fifty permanent jobs and a removed wetland. Southland deserves to weigh that trade-off with full information — not after the concrete is poured.