Have AI data centers begun descending upon your neck of the woods? They’re beginning to become prevalent just about everywhere around the world. Residents of Makarewa, a small town in New Zealand, are coming together to get answers about a US$3 billion AI data center approved for their area. The 49-hectare hyperscale facility, which takes up about 121 acres, is being built by Datagrid and would become the country’s largest data center, according to 1News. It’s expected to become New Zealand’s second-largest electricity user, drawing 6% of the country’s total power supply.
The project grew out of a national push for AI investment. The government investment agency Invest NZ pitched overseas investors on making New Zealand a home for AI growth with a bid valued at $30 billion. Afterward, an Invest NZ report singled out Southland as the perfect region for another data center because of its renewable energy. New Zealand already has 56 data centers, 20 more planned.
Campaigner Kelly Blomfield said the objection is not to the technology itself, and that her group isn’t anti-technology or anti-progress. She added that they’re not even anti-data-center, but rather “just anti-no transparency,” explaining that Southlanders were never given a chance to say whether they backed the project. Blomfield has been trying to organize a public meeting where residents can ask how the facility would affect them. The local council has agreed to take part, but Datagrid has not responded.
This is all very similar to what’s been taking place in the United States. On July 18, a group called HumansFirst organized the first nationally coordinated day of protest against data center construction, with demonstrations at more than 125 locations across at least 40 states, according to Newsweek. Organizers there raised the same set of issues, including electricity demand, water use, and a sense that projects get approved without local buy-in. A recent Gallup poll found that 70% of Americans oppose having an AI data center built in their own community.
What Critics Say the Project Will Cost New Zealand
” we’re not anti-progress, and we’re not even anti-data centres. We’re just anti-no transparency,” said campaigner Kelly Blomfield..people of Southland weren’t given the chance to say whether this project is something they’d back.”https://t.co/Iqr11BGMde
— Clare K (@AucklandIsland) July 19, 2026
Don Christie, director of the Wellington software company Catalyst, said the facility is being built for overseas interests rather than domestic ones. His objection is about power prices. He said the effect on New Zealanders will be to make renewable energy considerably more expensive, and that this is what has happened in other parts of the world where data centers have gone up.
Just one facility consuming 6% of national supply would sit behind only one other user in the entire country. Blomfield’s group is not disputing the technology so much as the process that approved it, and the public meeting she is organizing is meant to get the company to answer directly. Datagrid’s silence on the invitation so far is part of what residents are pointing to.
What the Industry Says About Power and Water
Graeme Muller, chief executive of Tech NZ, said the environmental problems seen at data centers overseas can be avoided in New Zealand. On water, he pointed to design changes, saying newer facilities like the one Datagrid is building use closed-loop processing systems that recirculate water rather than consuming it continuously.
On electricity, Muller made the opposite argument from the critics. He said introducing a large new user to the market leads to more energy supply rather than less, because investors will want to guarantee uninterrupted power for an investment of that size, which pushes them to fund generation. He explained the data center building plans as an opportunity for New Zealand to get its electricity system funded by outside money, saying “All smart governments are doing it” and seemingly thinking of it as a shrewd business decision.