Alberta Premier Addresses Concerns Over Meta's $13 Billion Data Centre During Call-in Show

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Premier Danielle Smith reassured Albertans about Meta's plans for a massive data centre in Sturgeon County, addressing concerns over utility costs, water usage, and decommissioning plans.

EDMONTON — On Saturday, Premier Danielle Smith took to the airwaves during her call-in radio show to address widespread apprehension among Albertans regarding Meta Platforms Inc.’s ambitious plan to construct a massive data centre in the province. The proposed facility, valued at over $13 billion, is set to be located north of Edmonton, and several callers expressed their concerns about the implications for everyday residents. One caller voiced their unease, stating, "I don’t feel protected, Danielle," while another questioned, "How do you guarantee that everyday families won’t be on the hook for subsidizing big tech’s power grid demands?" Additionally, concerns were raised about the future of decommissioning these substantial AI data centres.
In response to these worries, Smith assured the public that the new data centre would not result in increased utility bills for residents and would not strain the local water supply. She explained that Alberta’s grid operator plans to utilize surplus energy to power the facility until the completion of a new natural gas-fired plant, named the Greenlight Electricity Centre, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2030. This plant is a collaborative effort involving Pembina Pipeline Corp., Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Kineticor Asset Management.
Smith elaborated that the data centre's water consumption would be comparable to that of a standard golf course and highlighted the implementation of a closed-loop water cooling system, which would mitigate the need for drawing water from the surrounding area. Addressing concerns about noise and disruption, she noted that few homes are located within the vicinity of the centre, with the nearest residents situated kilometers away. Furthermore, she emphasized that local leadership had approved the project, reflecting community support.
The premier stated that Alberta's cold climate makes it an attractive location for data centres, as the extensive supercomputers and associated infrastructure require significant cooling systems. In the event that Meta opts to shut down the facility, Smith assured residents that there are plans in place for decommissioning. She stated, "We would put pressure on the industry to find an appropriate way to do all of the chemical or mechanical recycling to make sure that the components going into them are taken out," underscoring Alberta’s long-standing commitment to electronic waste recycling.
The tech giant, known for its platforms such as Facebook, recently announced the establishment of a one-gigawatt data centre in Sturgeon County, with operations expected to commence within the next two to three years. Alberta’s Minister of Affordability and Utilities, RJ Sigurdson, indicated that the initial phase of the project would draw 970 megawatts from the grid. To accommodate large-load projects like data centres, Alberta’s grid operator has reserved a total of 1,200 megawatts of capacity until 2028 to prevent overburdening the electrical system.
Once operational, the $4.6 billion Greenlight Electricity Centre is projected to generate 932 megawatts of power in the latter half of 2030, with the potential for future expansion. Smith remarked, "We told companies you can come, but you ought to build your own power and, better yet, build more than you need so you can sell back into the grid," suggesting that this could lead to increased power availability and reduced costs overall.
In addition to the data centre, Meta has committed to investing $60 million to enhance local infrastructure, including improvements to roads and water systems. The increasing demand for data centres is largely driven by the exponential growth of artificial intelligence technologies, which require vast computing resources for tasks such as training and running models. Smith noted, "Anyone who uses a ChatGPT … anyone who creates a digital image or a video using AI, those are the reasons why there’s such demand."
However, the rapid expansion of data centres raises concerns among Canadians living near these electricity and water-intensive facilities. Alberta has actively pursued major tech companies to establish operations within the province, introducing a "concierge" service to facilitate regulatory processes and aiming for $100 billion in data centres under construction by the end of the decade.

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