CDN NEWS | 
US NEWS 
Province advances application to build and operate 1,864-megawatt power-generation facility with possible links to Meta
By Chris Varcoe
Alberta Technology Minister Nate Glubish made a bold prediction two weeks ago at the Global Energy Show that’s worth remembering.
He told the audience that Alberta could see massive gigawatt-scale data centre announcements being rolled out later this summer.
There are growing signs and tantalizing puzzle pieces it may happen sooner than later, potentially involving a large hyperscaler and billions of dollars of investment.
The day after Glubish spoke at the conference, the provincial government passed an order-in-council.
It allows a little-known company to acquire lands in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton, “for the purpose of constructing or operating a natural gas-fired turbine electricity generation plant to operate an adjacent data centre.”
A provincial cabinet minister said Monday it is connected to a proposed power generation development, known as Project Greenlight, that could help provide electricity to data centres.
On Friday, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) approved an application by Greenlight Electricity Centre GP to build and operate a 1,864-megawatt power-generation facility in Sturgeon County, about 35 kilometres north of Edmonton.
The AUC decision says the plant will supply “electric power to the province and to supply data centres.”
A final investment decision on Project Greenlight was targeted by Pembina Pipeline Corp. before the end of June for its proposed initiative.
The company is working on the development with its partner, Kineticor Asset Management. The two Calgary-based firms have previously discussed the proposed project in Sturgeon County, with a power generating capacity of up to about 1,800 megawatts, or 1.8 gigawatts (GW).
Speaking on the sidelines of an energy conference earlier this month, Pembina Pipeline CEO Scott Burrows confirmed the expected timing of a final investment decision (FID).
“We’re seeing lots of momentum in the space,” he told reporters. “We’d be looking to FID our Greenlight electricity centre near the end of the second quarter.”
Previous reports said the project’s facilities and gas-fired power plant were tied to a potential data centre for Meta, owner of Facebook.
A January report by TD Securities analyst Michael Elias said Meta plans on building a gigawatt-plus data centre in Edmonton that could scale up to as much as six GW. Officials with Meta did not respond to an email Monday, nor did officials with Pembina or Kineticor to phone calls.
Meanwhile, the province’s lobbyist registry indicates Facebook Canada has consultants “seeking to engage the government of Alberta law and policy governing the development of facilities for advanced computing.”
So, what does this all mean for the province’s goal of drawing in $100 billion of capital investment for data centres by 2030?
“These kinds of items, along with the data centre regulations, are all pieces of the broader puzzle coming together as the province puts the necessary framework in place to advance the broader opportunity,” said analyst John Mould of TD Cowen.
“We’re getting there.”
Last week, a report by Calgary-based investment firm Peters & Co. came to a similar conclusion. It expects several updates in the coming weeks that “will establish a pathway to gigawatt-scale data centre development in Alberta,” including the sanctioning of Project Greenlight.
“After two years of regulatory and commercial work since the first data centres applied for grid connection, pieces are finally coming into place that will lead to shovels in the ground,” it states.
“The build-out will drive large-scale investment in power generation and data centre infrastructure, while creating new demand for natural gas and establishing the province as a legitimate market for hyperscalers.”
If the project and another proposed development proceed, it would constitute 2.6 gigawatts of power demand, which could require total investment approaching $200 billion, the Peters & Co. report said.
AI computer chips would make up more than half of the overall total and would be sourced overseas, “but the direct investment in Alberta could still be over $50 billion, just for these projects,” it estimated.
If Greenlight gets the go-ahead — and, to be clear, an FID has not been announced at this point — and data centre customers sign on for the power, it would go a long way to getting to the province’s $100-billion target, say industry experts.
AI-focused data centres require huge amounts of electricity and major capital investments. A one-gigawatt facility would typically cost about US$60 billion to build, said analyst Carson Kearl of energy analytics firm Enverus.
“Assuming a 900-megawatt (facility) is reflecting the size of the data centre, as well as the size of the power plant, that would get you a good 75 per cent of the way to what the premier has set as a goal,” Kearl said.
The focus on attracting data centres to the province has been building since 2024, when the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) noted several proponents applied to connect to the province’s transmission system, representing about two gigawatts of potential new load.
Today, there are 40 projects that, if all built, would require more than 19 gigawatts.
During Stampede in 2024, Smith told a group of investors and business leaders at an Invest Alberta event to “bring your own electricity, bring your own generation. Partner with a generating company.”
And while the province has encouraged developers to bring their own power or team up with generators, 1.2 GW of excess supply was allocated by the Alberta Electric System Operator to two proposed projects.
Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally, whose Morinville-St. Albert riding includes Sturgeon County, said Monday the land referenced in the province’s recent order-in-council would be for Project Greenlight.
He noted the area, part of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, has many natural advantages for hosting data centres, including access to appropriate water licences and ample natural gas supplies that can be used to generate electricity.
“It’s going to be 1,200 jobs during peak construction. Once it’s constructed, it’s going to be 50 full-time jobs and another 100 contractor jobs. It’s going to generate taxes for the province. It’s going to generate tax base for the municipalities,” Nally said.
“This is a desirable project for the area.”
Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw noted the land was zoned for heavy industrial purposes several decades ago and it attracted the interest of project proponents, while the region is looking to diversify its economic base.
“The same reasons that we’re competitive in the (petrochemical) space and in the energy space make us now desirable for data centres, for the next kind of form of the industrial revolution,” Hnatiw said.
“We didn’t even look for data centres — those site selectors search the world to find the right places, and they found us, so we’ve got two coming. I still am on the diversification bandwagon.”
Glubish told the Global Energy Show there will be gigawatt-scale announcements in the province later this summer “that aren’t just like press releases; these are shovels in the ground.”
These high-tech facilities will help build “sovereign compute” that can protect Canadian intellectual property and innovation, while drawing investment and generating taxes, he said.
Gas-fired plants will also help stimulate more exploration and drilling, as well as additional provincial royalties.
“This next project that we expect to see announced later this year, this one deal has the potential to create $6 billion of value, not in GDP, in actual tax revenue and reductions to Albertans’ electricity bills over its life,” Glubish added.
There has been vocal opposition in some parts of Alberta to data centre initiatives, with concerns often focused on water and land use.
However, provincial officials say they have set up rules and a framework to ensure Albertans benefit from such investment.
“The bottom line is the economic activity for the area will be substantial — and not just for the area, for the province — because this is part of a larger strategy to attract $100 billion worth of data centre investment to the province,” Nally said.
“We feel strongly that our ambition to get to $100 billion in data centre investment is not a problem.”
Chris Varcoe is a Calgary Herald columnist.
[email protected]
Share This:
