At a glance
- Transpower has received 30 approaches from data centre developers about grid connections, and 11 have moved to the stage where it works out what the connection would take.
- Those 11 projects add up to a gigawatt, the same size as the figure BCG published in August 2026 when it lifted its 2030 case from 600MW.
- New Zealand has about 208MW of built data centre capacity across 36 facilities on market researcher Arizton's June count, which is the base a gigawatt would be added to.
- Generation already approved or in the pipeline would power about 4,100MW of data centre servers, with a further 1,190MW worth under construction.
- Operating a gigawatt would take up to 1,200 people on BCG's benchmark of one job for each megawatt, and building it would peak at about 3,500.
Eleven data centre projects have reached Transpower's design stage
BCG published its second New Zealand data centre study in August 2026 and lifted what it puts within New Zealand's reach by 2030 from a 600MW base case to more than a gigawatt of new compute, which it expects would take about five years to build. We read the 38 pages against the public record of what New Zealand has approved, contracted and built, to see how much of that gigawatt already exists as applications. The study carries a count sourced to Transpower: 30 expressions of interest in connecting new data centre loads directly to the transmission grid, of which 11 have progressed to assessment or design, together totalling a gigawatt of new electricity load.
An expression of interest is the first formal approach a developer makes to the grid operator. Assessment or design is the stage after it, where Transpower works out what the connection would physically require. The gigawatt BCG forecasts is therefore the same size as the work sitting in front of the grid operator, and the public record shows how far individual parts of it have travelled.
Transpower publishes what happens after an approach. A project runs from concept assessment to investigation and then delivery, and the Transpower Works Agreement is the contract that funds a new connection. A project that misses its milestones without remedy can be placed on hold.
Datagrid holds approval, transformers and earthworks at Makarewa
Datagrid holds planning approval for a campus at Makarewa in Southland designed to draw 280MW from the network in its first stage. It has pre-paid Transpower in full for four transformers for a substation targeted for commissioning in late 2027, and began earthworks and roading on the 49-hectare site in August 2026. BCG names Datagrid's 300MW Southland application as the largest of the 11, a figure that runs above the 280MW the first stage is designed to draw.
Contact Energy and CDC are preparing to seek approval for 250MW at Stratford in Taranaki, on a site next to generation Contact already owns. New Zealand runs about 208MW of built data centre capacity across 36 facilities on the June count of the research firm Arizton, and the Electricity Authority has logged 12 further prospective data centres whose details are confidential.
| Stage | Megawatts on the public record | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Built and operating | About 208MW | Arizton, June 2026 count of 36 facilities |
| Planning approval granted | 280MW | Datagrid Makarewa first stage, approved March 2026 |
| Long-lead equipment paid for | 280MW | Four transformers pre-paid to Transpower |
| Approached Transpower | 1,000MW | 30 expressions of interest, 11 at assessment or design |
Source: Arizton New Zealand Existing and Upcoming Data Center Portfolio, June 2026; Transpower via BCG, August 2026; Southland planning decisions, March 2026. The operating figure is built data centre capacity and the connection figures are power drawn from the network. They are not the same measure.
Approved generation could power 4,100MW of data centre servers
The Auckland summit's closing energy panel asked on 12 August 2026 where the next 300MW of supply comes from. BCG converts New Zealand's generation build into the data centre load it would support and puts approved and pipeline projects at about 4,100MW, measured as the peak power drawn by the servers themselves, with 1,190MW worth under construction and 680MW worth commissioned between 2020 and 2025. On its figures the country commissioned 5TWh of renewable generation across those six years, about 11 per cent of 2025 total generation, and renewable supply is on track to exceed 95 per cent from 2027.
BCG puts fully firmed contracts at NZ$100 to NZ$130 a megawatt-hour, firming being the backup supply that covers the hours renewables run short, and records electricity futures falling 25 to 35 per cent between December 2025 and July 2026. Mercury holds a 15-year option over 140MW of Datagrid's supply, which BCG sizes at about 1.2TWh a year, roughly 3 per cent of national demand.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown told 1News on 9 August 2026 that "at a principled level, I want AI data centres underwriting new generation and growing generation in New Zealand". He added: "But I don't want them pushing up the power bills of ordinary Kiwis." Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis is drafting investment principles on the Prime Minister's 27 July direction, under which a project would add new generation to match the load it brings, scaled to its size.
Operating a gigawatt takes up to 1,200 people
BCG puts operating staff at about one role for each megawatt of capacity, so a gigawatt carries about 1,000 permanent roles. Supporting generation and fibre add a further 200, which is where BCG's figure of up to 1,200 ongoing operational roles comes from. Seventy per cent of them are skilled technicians working shifts, because the buildings run continuously. Peak construction is a different figure and a different workforce: about 3,500 people at the top of the build, 60 per cent of them in electrical and mechanical trades and 21 per cent in civil trades. Datagrid discloses 1,200-plus construction jobs and 50 to 80 permanent roles for its own first stage, which is a project count rather than a national one.
BCG cites the electrical contractors' association Master Electricians, which estimates a shortfall of around 6,000 electricians. About 20 per cent of the existing workforce retires each year, and training a replacement electrician takes three to four years. Demand for electricians at the 2029 construction peak could run 30 per cent above the domestic training pipeline, and Australia is projected short 42,000 electricians by 2030 and the United Kingdom about 111,000 by 2033, so the countries New Zealand usually recruits from are short of the same trades. Datagrid founder and chief executive Rémi Galasso locates the constraint in specialist technicians and engineers.
BCG puts Datagrid's approved water take at 200,000 cubic metres and reports that the Southland design maximises air cooling, with harvested rainwater for occasional assistance.
What to watch
The other ten projects. Transpower's assessment and design count runs to 11. Datagrid's is the one BCG names. The rest set how much of the gigawatt converts.
The works agreements. The signed works agreement is the document that settles a connection with Transpower, and each one converts an approach into a committed connection.
The Willis principles. Investment principles are still being drafted, with new generation matched to new load and scaled to project size, ahead of the 7 November 2026 election.
The New Zealand Gigawatt Decade. This publication's national AI infrastructure outlook publishes in mid-September, carrying the count of how far the pipeline has cleared its six gates and what each megawatt-hour returns by user. Operators, generator-retailers and investors can submit build-cost, connection and output data at info@certifiedstrategic.com.