The natural gas facility, proposed by Synapse Data Centre Inc.<\/a>, will produce 1.4 gigawatts of energy each day, solely to power what could become the largest artificial intelligence (AI) data centre in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s equivalent to the daily demand for the entire city of Edmonton.<\/p>\n For some, including a town council wrestling with debt and eager to find new income, it\u2019s a boon. For others, including residents caught off guard by a fast-moving developer, it raises concerns over air and water pollution, noise and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That sort of investment in a town of just under 10,000 is significant.<\/p>\n The developer approached the town last November, and went public near the end of January regarding its plans. Synapse has said it wants to start construction in March \u2014\u00a0something Mayor Dan Daley calls \u201cpretty optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n The data centre, if built, would be the biggest project amidst a potential building boom in Alberta, pushed by a provincial data centre strategy<\/a> launched in 2024 that seeks to attract $100 billion worth of investment to the province.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s also a significant test of the government\u2019s \u201cbring your own energy\u201d part of that strategy, which prioritizes data centre projects that include on-site power generation, separate from the provincial electricity grid.<\/p>\n But closer to home, the project has raised more immediate concerns for residents of Olds.<\/p>\n Janae Johnson, who lives near the proposed facility, worries about how close the data centre will be to homes, but also the wetlands and fields of Olds College, just across the street. She worries about air pollution, water, noise and a project that seems to be moving fast with little public information.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about the biggest plant, that\u2019s using new technology that hasn\u2019t been proven, that is not typically located right in a residential area,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Olds AI project announced in January \u2014 company wants to start construction in March<\/p>\n The Synapse data centre will actually be ten data centres and ten power plants, cobbled together on the same parcel of land on the edge of Olds, across from the agriculture and technology college. All together, the computer servers alone would eat up a gigawatt of electricity daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company says it will use a closed-loop water cooling system for both its data centre and the attached power plant, claiming it only needs to pull water to fill the systems once, a relatively new technology for data centres. The power will be produced by natural gas units tapping local reservoirs of gas.<\/p>\n AI data centres are the backbone of plans to dramatically ramp up artificial intelligence use in all aspects of life, from surfing the internet to use in hospitals, military applications and so much more. Data centres themselves are largely unassuming: inside are what look like rows of neatly arranged boxes \u2014 servers stacked on what look like bookshelves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sandra Blyth, the economic development manager for the town\u2019s investment agency, Invest Olds, says she signed a non-disclosure agreement with Synapse to protect some of the more detailed information, so she\u2019s limited in what she can reveal about more technical aspects of the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n She says the company approached the town in November and then moved quickly, with the project announced on Jan. 27. The land in question was rezoned to allow the project on Feb. 9 and the company says it wants to start construction in March.<\/p>\n Synapse still has to go through the regulatory process with the Alberta Utilities Commission, the provincial regulator of the electricity grid, and Alberta Environment and Parks, making the March construction start date unlikely.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of regulation to get through, and so it\u2019s hard to say, but that\u2019s the target,\u201d Blyth says about the construction timeline. \u201cTargets are good.\u201d<\/p>\n But the speed of that target has caused concern.<\/p>\n Residents concerned about emissions, water contamination and more<\/p>\n Johnson, who lives near the site, says there\u2019s been a lack of clarity on the project and a lack of transparency from council, which doesn\u2019t help convince her of the project\u2019s benefits. She also learned about the development in late January, when three representatives from Synapse knocked on her door.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest concern is going to be air pollution, noise pollution,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have populations of deer and geese and loons and beavers. What is the impact of this going to be? That has not been addressed whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s not alone. Dozens of letters and comments sent to town council in February<\/a> reveal extensive concern.<\/p>\n \u201cHas there been any consideration of the amount of emissions that the gas-fired power plant will create?\u201d one resident wrote to the town council.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow will wastewater be disposed of as it will likely be contaminated?\u201d the same resident asked.<\/p>\n Others wanted to see examples of existing closed-loop systems, remediation plans for the site, clarity on how air quality will be monitored and information on how contraventions would be enforced.\u00a0<\/p>\n Standing in the parking lot of the Co-op building, overlooking the site, Peter Grenier says he\u2019s opposed to the project. He lives across the street from the proposed data centre.<\/p>\n He thinks the project is too close to homes and is upset with what he sees as late consultation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Daley, the mayor of Olds, says he\u2019s sympathetic to residents\u2019 concerns, but there aren\u2019t many answers he can provide.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of their questions and concerns that they had directed towards council, we didn\u2019t have answers on yet because these studies and assessments haven\u2019t taken place yet,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Electricity use of proposed data centres in Alberta would be more than double the province\u2019s average<\/p>\n Jason van Gaal, the president and CEO of Synapse, says the company has submitted applications to the utility regulator and the government, both of which are focused on the power generation aspect of the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n He says the company could, \u201cin theory,\u201d start construction on the data centre prior to receiving those approvals.<\/p>\n The natural gas power generation will produce greenhouse gas emissions as well as pollutants including nitrous oxides, something van Gaal says is a focus of provincial regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the province wants to see is nitrous oxides below a certain threshold, and other things as well, but the reason they focus on nitrous oxide is because that is, typically, for natural gas plants, the hardest one to be compliant with.\u201d<\/p>\n Van Gaal wasn\u2019t able to provide figures on greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Natural gas produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. He did say there could be carbon capture on the power plant in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Synapse project isn\u2019t the only project of its scale proposed for Alberta. The list of data centres that want to connect to the provincial grid<\/a> include one project near Red Deer that would reach 1.8 gigawatts, another near Calgary requiring 1.4 gigawatts and several nearing the one-gigawatt mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n The province capped the total amount of power that could be drawn from the grid for all data centres at 1.2 gigawatts for the first round of applications. All of that power went to two projects<\/a>, both near Edmonton, leaving 40 to wait in the queue<\/a> or build their own power source.<\/p>\n In total, power demand for proposed data centres currently listed by the Alberta Electric System Operator<\/a> sits at 21.2 gigawatts per day \u2014 more than double the average electricity use<\/a> for the entire province. And that figure doesn\u2019t yet include the Synapse project.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone asked me at one of the meetings, are you okay living beside it? And I said, \u2018Sure, no problem.\u2019 The more I\u2019ve gone down this, the less concerned I would be about it,\u201d says van Gaal. \u201cIf the community wants me to live beside the natural gas plant myself, I don\u2019t have a problem doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Feeling the pinch\u2019: huge AI investment could help Olds\u2019 finances<\/p>\n The prospect of a multibillion-dollar investment is particularly attractive, as Olds has struggled financially<\/a> in recent years. Olds lost millions<\/a> building a local fibre optic network that it recently sold to Telus at a loss, a large cannabis operation pulled up stakes in 2022 and provincial funding for municipalities has dried up. The town has eaten into reserves and cut services as it fights to balance the books.<\/p>\n Mayor Daley says Synapse would be responsible for paying to bring utilities such as water and sewage to the area, a significant investment that could attract more businesses to that currently unserviced area of town.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe tax revenue that\u2019s going to come off of that will definitely help,\u201d he says. \u201cAs all other municipalities in Alberta, we\u2019re feeling the pinch of the cutbacks to our funding from the provincial government.\u201d<\/p>\n While that funding shrinks, the province is busy promoting data centres as an economic driver. There\u2019s also more than $1 billion from the federal government<\/a> as part of a data sovereignty strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n That funding, and the enormous amounts of corporate money being dumped into the building boom, mean the dilemma of data centres is something more and more communities will face.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AB-Olds-John-7-WEB.jpg\"\/)
This parcel of farmland in Olds, Alta., was recently rezoned to allow for the proposed data centre. A natural gas plant is also planned for the site to power the data centre, which will use about as much electricity as the city of Edmonton.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AB-Olds-John-24-WEB-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
Janae Johnson lives near the proposed data centre. She\u2019s concerned about potential air and noise pollution from the centre and its associated gas power plant.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AB-Olds-John-20-WEB-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
Sandra Blyth is the economic development manager for Invest Olds. She says Synapse Data Centres Inc. first approached the town with its proposal in November 2025.<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AB-Olds-John-18-WEB-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Residents](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AB-Olds-John-12-WEB-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
\nCommunity members attended an information session at the local community centre earlier this month to learn more about the proposed data centre.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AB-Olds-John-8-WEB-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
The town of Olds, Alta., has struggled financially in recent years, and some municipal leaders are eyeing the proposed data centre as a way to boost property tax revenue. Mayor Dan Daley says the municipality is \u201cfeeling the pinch\u201d of provincial funding cutbacks.<\/p>\n