Data centre developer eyes ILT-owned land in Invercargill for project

Thursday, 9 June 2022

Invercargill Licensing Trust chief executive Chris Ramsay says the trust has been in dicussions with a data centre developer in regard to land the ILT owns north of the Ascot Park Hotel. [File Photo].

The company behind a data centre development has set its sights on a section near the Ascot Park Hotel, and it could prove to be beneficial for the Invercargill Licensing Trust.

In March the T4 Group announced its plan for a $50 million data centre in Southland.

Earlier In 2020, Datagrid announced its billion-dollar plan for a site at Makarewa, north of Invercargill.

The T4 Group is now in negotiations with the Invercargill Licensing Trust about leasing some ILT-owned land north of its Ascot Park Hotel.

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A data centre is a dedicated space used to house computer systems and associated components.

To achieve a Tier 4 rank, the highest there is, it needs two power supplies, which will come from Southland’s two hydro stations, Lake Manapouri and Lake Monowai.

ILT chief executive Chris Ramsay said they have been in discussions with the T4 Group for a number of months.

The discussion started about the prospect of leasing some land.

The conversation has now extended to the prospect of using waste heat generated by the data centre to help heat the Ascot Park Hotel.

“We have been working with [the T4 Group] and they identified the section, that we own north of the hote,l could work out well as a location for them,” Ramsay said.

“And then the additional benefits that would come from that would be some sustainability initiatives, on both their behalf and ours. So the excess heat that they produce can be piped out to us.”

The T4 Group was formed in 2021 and it is made up of majority Southland owners, including director David Simpson.

Ramsay said the ILT was motivated to move away from the coal boiler system it used and this could potentially be a big step towards that.

He acknowledged there could be commercial benefits through the prospect of leasing the land to the data centre developers, but the efficiencies it could gain from sustainability perspective was just as important.

“It is still in the very early stages. We’ve got a number of things to work through.”

It included around the suitability of the land for the project, Ramsay said.

T4 Group director David Simpson also said it was early days of the process.

However, he said they did want to get base works on the site started this year.

“There are no current impediments that we can see. Obviously things will pop up, but currently there is nothing to change that view,” Simpson said.