Calling it “one of the largest private sector investments in Canadian history,” Alberta Premier Daniel Smith and Meta vice-president of data centers Gary Demasi announced Wednesday the company’s plans to spend $13 billion to build a new data center in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton.
Mehta says the project will employ 3,000 people at peak construction and create approximately 300 full-time jobs once operational.
An artist’s rendering of the new $13 billion data center META says it will build in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton.
Source: META Platforms.
In addition, the Alberta government says it will receive approximately $250 million annually in royalties, taxes, fees and charges.
Meta will also invest approximately $60 million in local infrastructure improvements, including roads and water infrastructure, Smith said.
“In addition, Alberta ratepayers will see an approximately 6 per cent reduction on a portion of their transmission bills thanks to the Green Light Project, a $4.6 billion, 970-megawatt natural gas power generation facility announced last week by infrastructure partners Pemina Pipeline Corporation, Kineticor and Morgan Stanley.
“This facility will generate electricity using natural gas produced right here in Alberta—electricity that will help power this data center.”
Meta (full name Meta Platforms) is a large global technology conglomerate that is the parent company of social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads.
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With the boom in artificial intelligence in Canada, there are a growing number of proposals to build data centers—some of a staggering scale, often requiring enough electricity to power an entire city.
The industry’s breakneck growth has also fueled growing discontent over water use, pollution, and the cost and availability of electricity in nearby communities.
Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist at Greenpeace Canada, called for a moratorium on “megadata centers” until environmental and human rights regulations protecting AI are legislated.
“We see these kinds of promises from AI data center advocates around the world, but the reality is that these are billionaires trying to steal our water and pollute our air so they can double our electricity while costing us jobs.”
META plans to build its new data center in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton, in an area known as Alberta’s industrial heartland.
Source: META Platforms.
Meta says its data center will be equipped with a closed-loop water cooling system so it will not draw water from the environment, and the site’s water use will be limited to domestic needs such as fire protection systems and equipment maintenance applications.
Meta also pledged to spend $60 million to improve local infrastructure such as roads and water systems.
But Bec McIntosh, who helped fight the massive data center near her hometown of Olds, Alta., says the potential impacts of such huge developments go beyond electricity and water consumption. She’s concerned about “unknown details” and typically says governments “don’t support the dissemination of information to their communities.”
When asked why Albertans should trust Meta to build this project, Smith said the site where the new data center is being built—the Alberta Industrial Center—was specifically designed for heavy industrial use.
“It will be located in an industrial area that has been developed over four decades. There were supposed to be 12 oil refineries on the site,” Smith said.
With files from The Canadian Press.
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