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The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) has approved an application to build an electricity generation facility just outside of Edmonton, which is expected to provide power needed by the province’s growing data centre industry.
In a decision dated June 19, the commission said it approved the Greenlight Electricity Centre, a proposed 1,864-megawatt facility, to be built 47 kilometres northeast of the city in Sturgeon County.
The Greenlight Electricity Centre, a joint venture between Pembina Pipeline and Kineticor, is to be built on 98 hectares of private land near Gibbons. The site is located in Alberta’s designated Industrial Heartland zone.
As a combined-cycle power generation facility, the project would use gas and steam turbines to convert natural gas into electricity.
Kineticor notes on its website that the project is subject to a variety of regulations that take into account metrics impacting air quality, noise assessment, field surveys and carbon capture.
“We’re pleased to welcome Greenlight into Sturgeon County’s portion of the Industrial Heartland,” Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw told CBC News in a statement.
“The off-grid power supply generated by Greenlight will support future industrial growth and enable new development in our region. This is a good news story for both our residents and our industrial partners alike. Congratulations to Pembina and Kineticor on this ambitious new endeavour.”
“Greenlight will address the province of Alberta’s request for $100 billion of investment in AI (artificial intelligence) technology to drive innovation, create jobs and diversify its economy,” Kineticor says of the project on its website.
“This demand surge is driven by advancements in AI, cloud computing and digital transformation, with global data centre electricity consumption projected to double by 2027, reaching 2.6 per cent of global electricity usage.”
The company said the project is expected to employ about 1,500 workers at the peak of construction.
The project is expected to be developed in two stages and to be completed and operational in 2031, according to an overview of the project on the AUC website.
The project is expected to be in operation for at least 40 years, according to the federal government’s Canadian Impact Assessment Registry.
According to the AUC decision, the electricity the facility produces will be exported to the Alberta Interconnected Electric System “to supply electric power to the province and to supply data centres.”
The approval comes amid a rapid push to build out AI data centres and a growing demand to power those energy-hungry facilities.
Will Noel is a senior analyst with the electricity team at the Pembina Institute, a think-tank focused on clean energy. He told CBC News that the project is significant but that the environmental impacts of the greenhouse gas emissions tied to it should be considered.
“This doesn’t mean data centres shouldn’t be explored in Alberta, but Albertans deserve the full picture of environmental impacts that come with using natural gas to power them,” Noel said.
“Especially when other options, such as wind, solar and battery storage, are actively being explored in other jurisdictions, such as the United States.”