Norwegian Investor Scraps $300M AI Data Center Following Heated Consultation

Norwegian Investor Withdraws $300M AI Data Center After Heated Public Consultation

A proposed US$300 million artificial intelligence data center in the Philippines has been withdrawn after a heated public consultation ended with its Norwegian proponent walking out as residents and officials questioned the project’s potential impact on water and electricity supplies.

Daniel Stefan Robertsen, managing director of Norway Green Energy, formally withdrew plans for the proposed hyperscale AI data center in Oton, Iloilo, just two days after the controversial August 14 consultation.

The development was proposed for approximately 10 hectares in Barangay Abilay Sur and surrounding areas. Plans called for the facility to eventually reach a capacity of 50 megawatts, potentially making it one of the major AI infrastructure investments in the area. The investment had been estimated at approximately US$300 million.

However, the scale of the project quickly generated questions among residents and local officials.

During the public consultation, attention turned to the amount of electricity and water required to operate and cool a facility of that size. Water supply became a particularly contentious issue as officials questioned Robertsen about where the facility would obtain the resources needed for its operations.

The project’s initial phase was expected to require roughly 500 cubic metres of water per day, according to reporting on the proposal, although actual consumption would have depended heavily on the cooling technology ultimately used. The project’s planned expansion toward 50 MW also raised questions about electricity availability and infrastructure.

Tensions escalated during the question-and-answer portion of the August 14 consultation.

Robertsen eventually left the meeting before residents and officials had finished raising their concerns. Reports said the confrontation continued outside, where he became involved in a tense exchange with journalists covering the consultation.

Two days later, the project was effectively over.

In an August 16 letter to the municipality, Robertsen confirmed that his company had decided not to continue developing the proposed Oton facility following an assessment of the project and what he described as the “current circumstances.” He did not provide a detailed explanation of those circumstances.

The withdrawal means the 50-MW facility will no longer proceed in Oton under the proposal presented to local authorities.

But the controversy has not ended with the project’s cancellation.

Oton officials are now considering calls for Robertsen to be declared persona non grata over his conduct surrounding the consultation. Vice Mayor Josel Neil Olivares said authorities would carefully examine whether Robertsen’s actions justified such a declaration, while also considering what such a decision could mean for Oton’s reputation among future investors.

Local officials had not approved the data center before the public consultation, and the municipality had been examining the proposal through its legislative and consultation processes.

The episode highlights a growing challenge accompanying the global expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

AI data centers can bring substantial investment and technological development, but large facilities can also require significant electricity, cooling infrastructure and, depending on their design, considerable quantities of water.

For communities being considered for these developments, the debate is increasingly becoming not simply whether AI investment should be welcomed, but whether existing electricity, water and environmental infrastructure can sustainably support it.

In Oton, those questions were never fully resolved.

Instead, a project potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars went from an ambitious proposal to a withdrawn investment within days of a public consultation that was supposed to help determine its future.