The Green Party wants a one-year halt on resource consents for new AI data centres, saying New Zealanders have not had a say on whether they want them. The policy, launched alongside the party's campaign slogan 'For all of us' at its AGM, targets the consented Data Grid hyperscale facility in Makarewa, just north of Invercargill — a $3.5 billion development that would become the second-largest electricity user in the country once running (RNZ).

A hyperscale data centre is a very large facility — think of it as a warehouse full of powerful computers that store and process data for AI and other digital services. The Data Grid site spans 49 hectares, has a capacity of 280 megawatts, and has permission to draw more than 600,000 litres of groundwater each day (RNZ; Datagrid; Venture Insights).

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, the party's spokesperson on the issue, said the Data Grid centre was "consented behind closed doors" and would use about 6% of New Zealand's current electricity production — equivalent, she said, to a town the size of Hamilton coming online overnight. She warned it would drive up power prices for everyone else and could push costs onto other industries, potentially costing jobs. She also pointed to overseas cases where data centres affected local water supplies, including fresh water turning to sludge or sedimentary water (RNZ).

Data Grid has pushed back on the water concerns, saying its cooling system will be "closed loop" — meaning the same water circulates through the system rather than being discharged. The company said 1,200 jobs would be created during construction (RNZ).

Mercury, one of New Zealand's major electricity generators and retailers (known as a "gentailier"), has invested $53 million into Data Grid. Mercury CEO Stu Hamilton said the centre would support up to 300 jobs once built, "multiplied by the jobs that will be used to construct the power stations necessary for the electricity" (RNZ).

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dismissed the Greens' position as "alarmist." Swarbrick countered that Luxon "agreed with all of the things that we were saying about the impacts on communities, on energy, and on the local water supply" but is not willing to introduce regulation (RNZ).

The Greens also fear that proposed law changes will make it easier for future data centres to get approval. The party repeated its call for a one-year moratorium in a separate press release about a bill to protect artists against outdated copyright laws that passed its first reading (Greens; Greens).

Beyond Makarewa, locals have raised concerns about potential noise from the facility (The Guardian).

There is growing commercial interest in Aotearoa as a data centre destination. A 2026 Boston Consulting Group report looked at the potential economic impact of data centres in New Zealand, including jobs, a new export industry, and flow-on benefits (BCG). The OECD's 2026 Economic Survey of New Zealand found the economy has entered the early stages of a recovery, supported by easing monetary policy, resilient exports, and a rebound in tourism (OECD).

The broader context here is that this debate follows familiar lines in New Zealand resource management: fast-track consenting versus a slower, more deliberate process, regional jobs versus national energy and water security, and private investment moving faster than the rules that govern it. What sets this case apart is the scale of a single facility relative to the national grid. One hyperscale consumer drawing 6% of current electricity production is not a small addition, and the argument that new demand will drive new generation capacity carries its own risk for an electricity market already under supply pressure.

There is also a legislative question. If changes to resource management or fast-track consenting do make approval easier for future data centres, the Greens' proposed moratorium would need either Government support or a select committee process to have any practical effect. With Luxon publicly calling the party's stance alarmist, that support looks unlikely in the current term. The Greens' strategy, then, appears to be less about immediate law change and more about staking out a public position before further consents pile up — using the Data Grid case as the concrete example of what an unregulated pipeline of hyperscale demand could mean for electricity prices, water resources, and competing industries.