A new natural gas-fired power plant is set to be operational in four years in northern Edmonton to support a large data center being planned by Meta Platforms Inc. The tech company anticipates the data center, valued at over $13 billion, will be up and running within the next two to three years, although an exact timeline has not been finalized.
In the interim, Meta has been granted permission to connect to Alberta’s power grid ahead of the Greenlight Electricity Centre commencing operations. Meta may also engage with other power suppliers if necessary. Last year, Alberta’s grid operator allocated 1,200 megawatts of capacity for significant projects like data centers until 2028 to ensure the stability of the province’s electricity network.
Capital Power recently secured a long-term energy supply contract for the Meta data center, providing 250 megawatts of electricity from the latter half of 2028. The Greenlight Electricity Centre, a $4.6 billion joint venture involving Pembina Pipeline Corp., Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Kineticor Asset Management, is expected to generate 932 megawatts of power initially, with the potential to double its capacity in the future.