Pembina Pipeline Corp., along with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor Asset Management, have approved the development of the Greenlight Electricity Centre, a natural gas facility designed to cater to a data center client. The project is estimated to cost $4.6 billion and will involve constructing a 932-megawatt plant in Sturgeon County, within Alberta’s Industrial Heartland region, with operations scheduled to commence in the latter half of 2030. The consortium holds permits that could potentially allow for a future doubling of the plant’s capacity.
Data centers house the necessary computer hardware for various technological applications and have seen significant growth due to advancements in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. While the specific data center customer has not been disclosed by the province or the companies involved in the project, Alberta has been actively seeking to attract major hyperscale developers like Meta and Google to establish operations within the province. Due to the current limitations of Alberta’s electricity grid in accommodating multiple large-scale projects, the province is focusing on initiatives where projects either construct or secure their own power generation capabilities.
Premier Danielle Smith highlighted the significance of the Greenlight Electricity Centre as a prime example of this strategy during a recent press conference. She emphasized that by requiring data centers to manage their power generation and related infrastructure costs, the approach aims to reduce transmission expenses on Alberta’s utility bills. The successful realization of such projects has been facilitated by a comprehensive energy agreement signed between Ottawa and Alberta in November, suspending federal clean electricity regulations that were perceived as potentially increasing costs and jeopardizing the reliability of a grid heavily reliant on natural gas.
Scott Burrows, CEO of Pembina, praised Alberta’s commitment to fostering competitiveness, attracting investments, and promoting energy development, asserting that the province’s strategic focus has positioned it as an attractive destination for emerging industries and sustained economic growth. The development of the Greenlight project underscores Alberta’s readiness to cater to the substantial power requirements of large-scale data centers and establish the necessary infrastructure to support the rapidly expanding sector.
While concerns have been raised in some Canadian and U.S. communities regarding pollution and noise associated with data center projects, particularly those incorporating gas plant components, Premier Smith reassured that Greenlight’s location in an area accustomed to industrial development for several decades mitigates these worries. The Pembina Institute, an independent clean-energy research organization, expressed regret in a statement that the Greenlight Energy Centre missed an opportunity to utilize more cost-effective renewable energy sources amid escalating costs of gas-fired power generation. David Pickup, who oversees the institute’s electricity program, highlighted the limitations of Alberta’s current regulations, which predominantly favor gas-fired power generation and restrict other renewable options, suggesting that a diversified energy mix could have mitigated environmental impacts and expenses linked to gas-fired operations.
