Australian data center firm CDC has announced interest in a potential data center in New Zealand in partnership with Contact Energy.

The site would be on the country's North Island in Stratford, Taranaki, based on land near Contact Energy’s former Taranaki Combined Cycle power station.

CDC said the site has existing energy and connectivity infrastructure, including high-capacity fiber, both terrestrial and subsea, offering connection to Auckland, the location of New Zealand’s international cables.

The potential facility would be focused on supporting critical and sovereign workloads in government and public sector systems, healthcare and emergency services, scientific and research computing, banking and payments, and emergency and critical communications networks.

Electricity to the facility would be supplied under a long-term contract and supported by Contact Energy’s renewable development pipeline. CDC’s other New Zealand data centers are powered by 100 percent renewable energy.

The facility will also feature a closed-loop cooling system, which CDC currently uses in its other facilities.

CDC said the project remains at “exploration stage” and any development will be subject to due diligence, consenting, and commercial requirements.

"CDC builds the infrastructure that governments, health systems, emergency services, researchers and financial institutions depend on. This is where sovereign data is held, where critical systems stay online, and where the most sensitive information stays in country," said CDC founder and chief executive Greg Boorer. "Stratford has the potential to bring together renewable generation, grid connection, fiber and a skilled technical workforce in a way very few places can. That combination is why we are looking at it seriously."

Last week, CDC announced plans to develop a new campus in Sydney.

Founded in 2007, Infratil-backed CDC has nearly 20 sites in operation and development across Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Auckland, New Zealand.

The company currently has more than 600MW of data center capacity in operation and development across Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and New Zealand. It has a future development pipeline of a further 1.6GW to 2034.