The problem is that the underwater cables land in Auckland, and for most applications, lower latency (both to the local populations and to the rest of the world) is a very important consideration.
I did hear that someone is putting in a 10MW cryptocurrecny mining "datacenter" right next to Clyde dam. I'm not exactly happy about that.
It would be pointless to put Chia mining operation next to a hydro power plant, the entire point is that they use very little electricity.
They haven't even admitted it's crypto.
All that's really known is that it's a 10MW "datacenter", hooked directly into the power plant, in a part of the country without a commercial fibre backbone, and will allegedly be running workloads that can be turned off depending on power demand.
Reading between the lines, that's a crypto mining operation.
I did hear that someone is putting in a 10MW cryptocurrecny mining "datacenter" right next to Clyde dam. I'm not exactly happy about that.