Gary Kelliher/Stuff
Lake Parime, the UK company that was to be operate this new data centre next to the Clyde Dam in Central Otago, has gone into liquidation.
The future of a Central Otago data centre is unclear after the UK-based company planning to operate it went into liquidation.
Construction of the data centre at the Clyde Dam is almost complete and it was to be run by UK-based digital infrastructure company Lake Parime.
The company described itself as providing services for blockchain and cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, data analysing and scientific modelling companies.
Clyde Dam operators Contact Energy were working with the company on the data centre and submitted the resource consent application.
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A Contact Energy spokeswoman said the company learned of the liquidation on Tuesday, the day administrators were appointed.
“We are working through the impact of this notice, and we are dealing with this matter as quickly as possible.”
Contact Energy had sent a termination of contract notice to the administrators.
No local contractors would be out of pocket she said.
“We are very much aware that Contact has promised the community that the substation [part of the data centre development] when finished was to be green fielded, so the structure sat sensitively within the natural environment.
“We are currently working through how we best manage this.”
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Several shipping containers and an office have already been installed at a site next to the Clyde Dam.
It had been due to begin operation in October 2022.
Aurora Energy was also involved in the project and a spokesperson said its contract to supply the new substation at Clyde was with Contact Energy and was unaffected.
No-one from Lake Parime could be contacted and the company’s website has become inaccessible.
Pamela Wade
Clyde Dam in Central Otago is operated by Contact Energy.
Online annual reports show the company was incorporated in January 2019 by company director Sathesan Ganesarajah.
It filed its last annual report in December 2021 showing revenue £14.5 million, a significant jump from £500,000 the previous year.
It both years it reported losses after tax. In 2021 the loss was £373,000, and £936,000 a year earlier.
Central Otago residents expressed concern last year that the plan would see Contact Energy exporting renewable energy to the cryptocurrency mining industry at a time when it had never been more valuable.
SUPPLIED/Stuff
Some Clyde residents were concerned about noise from the data centre.
Some Clyde residents were also concerned about noise generated by the data centre.
It was to have 368 servers and cooling equipment held in eight containers, enclosed by a noise mitigation wall next to the dam.
A statement from Contact Energy and subsidiary Simply Energy last year said the companies were looking to attract new industrial demand for electricity.
The Lake Parime data centre was the first such project in the lower South Island.
The company wanted to reduce electricity generators’ reliance on the Tiwai smelter, which consumes about 13 per cent of New Zealand’s power. The smelter owners have indicated it may close in 2024.
Contact Energy said it had safeguards in place around cryptocurrency in its agreement with Lake Parime, but declined to detail them in the statement.
In October, Datagrid NZ Limited Partnership lodged resource consent to build a $1 billion data centre near Invercargill.
Another company, T4 Group, announced last year it had plans for a $50 million data centre in Southland.
