Analysis-Alberta pitches cheap natural gas for data center boom, at odds with Canada's clean power aims

By Amanda Stephenson

CALGARY, June 9 (Reuters) - Alberta is touting its abundant proviso of inexpensive fossil fuels to entice tech companies to physique information centers for the AI boom, a determination that would undermine Canada's program to nexus caller information halfway improvement with cleanable vigor expansion.

Canada is the world's fifth-largest shaper of earthy gas, astir 60% of which comes from Alberta. As ‌well arsenic immense fossil substance reserves, the occidental state boasts a cooler clime that tin offset the cooling costs of information halfway infrastructure and plentifulness of disposable land. All that tin marque ‌operating information centers much cost-efficient than successful the United States, wherever they are facing pushback from communities and lawmakers.

Tech companies could besides make a caller marketplace for long-suffering earthy state producers successful Western Canada, wherever drillers look a multi-year proviso glut and astatine times person ​had to wage customers to instrumentality their state erstwhile prices person turned negative.

But a accelerated enlargement of information centers successful Alberta would disrupt Canada's plans to powerfulness the AI roar utilizing cleanable hydro, renewables and nuclear. While earthy state is simply a cleaner powerfulness root than ember oregon oil, arsenic a fossil substance it inactive contributes to emissions.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canadian information centers volition tally connected "some of the cleanest powerfulness successful the world." His government's June 4 AI strategy — which aims to velocity up Canada's adoption of artificial quality — highlighted however much than 83% of the country's energy grid comes from renewables and low-emission powerfulness sources.

Canada presently has lone 5 functioning information centers astatine the ‌so-called hyperscale level, demanding astatine slightest 50 megawatts of energy capacity, equivalent to ⁠the powerfulness needs of a tiny city.

But astir 100 much are successful the works and 90% of those are planned for Alberta, wherever the emissions strength of the province's energy grid is astir 5 times the nationalist average, probe from York University shows.

"We're fundamentally looking astatine these information centers arsenic integer pipelines and integer refineries for america ⁠to assistance get the worth from our earthy state to planetary markets, but successful a originative modern way," Alberta's Technology Minister Nate Glubish said successful an interview.

The state aims to pull C$100 cardinal successful information halfway investment. Glubish said helium has made aggregate trips to Silicon Valley since 2024 to tribunal energy-hungry tech giants with Alberta's earthy state pitch.

The 20 existing small- to mid-scale information centers successful Alberta already propulsion from the province's vigor grid, which is 60% powered by earthy gas. ​The ​provincial authorities is giving caller proponents the enactment to physique their ain powerfulness sources to debar limits connected powerfulness capacity.