Pembina Pipeline Corp., along with partners Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor Asset Management, have approved the development of the Greenlight Electricity Centre, which is set to cater to a data center client. The estimated cost for the project is $4.6 billion, with plans for a 932-megawatt plant to be constructed in Sturgeon County within Alberta’s Industrial Heartland region, situated north of Edmonton. The project aims for a launch in the latter half of 2030, with potential for future capacity expansion, as the companies hold permits for doubling the facility’s size down the line.
Data centers are facilities that house the necessary computer equipment to support various technological applications, and their demand has surged alongside advancements in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Although the specific data center client has not been disclosed by the province or the involved companies, Alberta has been actively pursuing major tech developers, such as Meta and Google, to establish operations within the region. However, due to the current limitations of Alberta’s electricity grid, the province is prioritizing projects that incorporate self-owned or contracted power generation, like the Greenlight Electricity Centre.
Premier Danielle Smith emphasized the significance of projects like the Greenlight Electricity Centre in reducing transmission costs for Alberta’s utility bills by having data centers contribute to their own power infrastructure. Smith attributed the viability of such investments to a recent energy agreement signed between Ottawa and Alberta, which suspended federal clean electricity regulations that were deemed detrimental to the province’s reliance on natural gas for grid stability.
Scott Burrows, CEO of Pembina, commended Alberta’s efforts in fostering an environment conducive to projects like Greenlight, emphasizing the province’s appeal for substantial new industries and sustained economic growth. Despite concerns raised in other regions about the environmental impact and noise associated with data center developments, particularly those incorporating gas plants, Smith assured that the Greenlight project would be situated in an area historically accepting of industrial developments.
The Pembina Institute, an independent clean-energy think tank, expressed disappointment in the Greenlight Energy Centre’s reliance on gas-fired power instead of exploring more cost-effective renewable energy sources. The Institute’s electricity program director, David Pickup, noted that while a project like Greenlight may not have been entirely sustainable on renewables alone, incorporating a mix of energy sources could have mitigated environmental consequences and operational costs linked to gas-powered operations.