By Amanda Stephenson
CALGARY, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Meta's plan to build a C$13 billion ($9 billion) data center in Alberta has boosted the Canadian province's appeal for hyperscalers, who see it as a vote of confidence in the government's AI strategy, the CEO of Capital Power said.
Capital Power is in talks with several proponents to supply electricity to potential projects, said Avik Dey, CEO of the Edmonton-based company in an interview on Friday.
He declined to name the companies, but said he does
not think Meta will be the only US hyperscaler to build a large-scale data center in Alberta. Hyperscalers are companies that operate massive-scale cloud computing and data center infrastructure to support AI.
Canada has only a handful of hyperscale data centers operating. But companies have proposed more than 100 in Alberta, which has abundant, cheap natural gas to generate electricity, available land and a cold climate that makes operating supercomputers more cost-efficient.
"Meta is the first to cross the line, but I think multiple hyperscalers have been evaluating Alberta for, I would say, the last 18 months," Dey said. "I do feel strongly that we've got the potential to be a multi-gigawatt market."
Capital Power is pitching its Genesee Generating Station southwest of Edmonton as a potential site for large data centers and views its natural gas-fired electricity generating stations as well-suited to serve data centers in Canada and the US.
BCE QUADRUPLES SIZE OF SASKATCHEWAN PROJECT
Last week, Canadian telecom firm BCE announced plans to quadruple the size and scope of its planned data center in Saskatchewan to a 1.2-gigawatt hub. Saskatchewan's government said it is prioritizing Canadian ownership when assessing new data center projects.
Alberta has pursued Silicon Valley-based hyperscalers and is giving new proponents the option to build their own electricity sources to maximize their power capacity.
Meta partnered with Pembina Pipeline to build a natural gas-fired electricity-generating station to power its first Canadian data center. Until that project comes online in 2030, Capital Power will provide 250 megawatts of electricity to the site.
An investment summit hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney last week marketed several data center projects, and a senior OpenAI executive attended.
In the US, data centers are facing increasing pushback from communities and lawmakers over power, water and pollution concerns. Dey said Alberta has taken a measured approach by encouraging data center proponents to invest in new electricity supply rather than relying on the grid.
However, a report released last month by clean energy think tank the Pembina Institute said allowing data centers to draw from the provincial grid before their own generating capacity is running will strain supply and could raise electricity costs for consumers.
An Angus Reid poll in July found 68% of Canadians would oppose a large data center near their home.
($1 = 1.3994 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Rod Nickel)
