Southland Region

Southland's economy runs on two industrial metabolisms operating at vastly different scales: the world's largest raw milk-processing plant at Edendale (established 1882) and the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter consuming 13% of New Zealand's entire electricity output. Together these represent the region's fundamental character—processing raw materials into exportable commodities using abundant natural resources. The smelter alone accounts for 10% of regional GDP and $1 billion in annual exports while employing 800 directly and 3,000 indirectly.

For decades, Tiwai's future dominated regional planning conversations. The smelter's enormous electricity consumption made it both vital employer and existential risk—closure would simultaneously free power for other uses and devastate the local economy. In May 2024, new twenty-year contracts secured operations until 2044, transforming uncertainty into a planning horizon. This stability has enabled "Beyond 2025 Southland" initiatives exploring how renewable energy surplus might attract new industries once the smelter's electricity demands set a floor for regional power capacity.

Southland occupies an unusual ecological niche in New Zealand's economic geography: remote enough that commodity processing must occur locally (transport costs prohibit sending raw milk to Auckland), yet connected by power infrastructure built specifically for the smelter. The Manapouri Power Station, constructed in the 1970s to serve Tiwai Point, now represents path-dependent infrastructure that shapes all subsequent development. Meanwhile, Stewart Island/Rakiura—one of only five International Dark Sky Sanctuaries—demonstrates how extreme remoteness creates alternative value through absence of light pollution.