National and Labour both ask data centres to bring their own power

At a glance

• Data centre developers face the same ask from National and Labour, which is that a large campus brings new electricity generation with it.

• Newsroom reported on 14 September 2026 that four AI data centres in the pipeline are expected to draw more electricity between them than the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.

• Tiwai Point is the country's largest electricity user at around 12 per cent of annual consumption, on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's ten-year average.

• Mercury has optioned 140MW to Datagrid, and the Electricity Authority has accounted for Datagrid's first phase at about 4.25 per cent of national consumption.

• The size at which each party's position would start sits with whoever forms a government after 7 November.

Newsroom reported on 14 September 2026 that four AI data centres in New Zealand's development pipeline are expected to consume more electricity between them than the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, and that National, Labour and the Greens each want developers to bring their own energy supply online. The article carries a subscription wall past those two sentences. On the published record, National and Labour have each set out what a large campus must bring, and the Green Party's published ask is a pause on consenting.

National and Labour each ask a campus to arrive with new generation, and each has left the capacity at which that starts to later work. The megawatt figures being compared to the smelter describe four campuses at full build, and the contracted figure behind the largest of them is the 140MW Mercury has optioned to Datagrid.

Luxon set a test in July, Labour published conditions in September

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon set the government's test on 27 July 2026, a day after the Green Party called for a one-year pause on consenting new AI data centres. He told RNZ that additionality, meaning new electricity load matched by new supply, "does mean things like making sure additional electricity generation happens, investments in grid stability, and that they pay for transmission upgrades and those kinds of things". The National Party put the same idea in one line of its plan for the South Island on 14 August 2026: "a new requirement for data centre projects to be accompanied by new, firmed generation", meaning generation that can run when wind and solar fall short.

Labour published AI in New Zealand's Interests on 9 September 2026, setting four conditions covering energy and water. A campus would secure its own renewable energy supply, pay its own connection costs, reduce electricity demand during peak stress periods and use water efficiently. The Greens have published the consenting pause alone. Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick put the line at 50MW when she described the policy to reporters, and the written release names no capacity figure.

Source: National, plan for the South Island; Labour, AI in New Zealand's Interests; Green Party release, at the dates shown.

Datagrid holds approval for 280MW and projects 1GW at full build

New Zealand Aluminium Smelters, which runs the Tiwai Point smelter, is "the single largest user of electricity in the country, accounting for around 12% of the national annual electricity consumption on average over the past decade", on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Energy in New Zealand 2025. Datagrid holds planning approval for 280MW in the first stage at Makarewa in Southland, and projects 1,000MW at full build. B2B News reported in July 2026 that the gigawatt target is almost double the smelter's consumption.

Datagrid alone, at its projected full build, reaches the comparison the four-project pipeline is being measured against. The Electricity Authority has accounted for Datagrid's consented first phase of 280MW at about 4.25 per cent of national consumption, which is the one figure here on the same basis as the smelter's 12 per cent.

Mercury has 140MW under option and Transpower plans for 120MW

Mercury holds a power purchase option covering 140MW at Makarewa. Its chief executive put the campus first phase at 300 to 360MW on 18 August 2026. Transpower's security assessment, which is its read on whether supply meets demand, carries 120MW of Datagrid load in its medium demand scenario from winter 2029, and names no Stratford load. Contact Energy and CDC have sized the Stratford campus in Taranaki at 250MW and have yet to lodge a consent application for it.

Transpower has taken 30 approaches from data centre developers, of which 11 have reached assessment or design, a gigawatt of new load between them. A full-build projection, a connection enquiry and a signed power option are three different quantities. The last is the only one a developer has paid for, and it is the one a rule on new generation would attach to.

The government's test sits outside any instrument a council or Transpower applies, and Labour's four conditions are an opposition commitment. Both await a capacity figure.

What to watch

The investment principles. Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet have held them since 27 July 2026, and no release date has been published.

The Stratford consent. Contact Energy and CDC are preparing to seek it for the 250MW Taranaki campus, which would put the government's test in front of a consent authority.

Datagrid's build decision. The company expects to commit to Makarewa before the end of December.

The vote. New Zealand goes to the polls on 7 November, with official results due on 27 November.