A new natural gas-powered plant set to be built north of Edmonton is anticipated to take four years before becoming operational and supplying the upcoming Meta Platforms Inc. data center. Meta representative Stacey Yip revealed that the tech giant foresees the $13 billion-plus data center becoming operational within the next two to three years, although an exact timeline has not been confirmed. In the interim, Meta has secured the rights to connect to Alberta’s power grid ahead of the Greenlight Electricity Centre commencing operations and may engage in agreements with alternative suppliers as necessary.
Alberta’s grid operator allocated 1,200 megawatts of capacity last year for substantial load projects such as data centers until 2028 to prevent strain on the province’s electrical system. Capital Power recently announced a long-term energy supply deal for the Meta data center, offering 250 megawatts of electricity slated for availability in the latter part of 2028. The Greenlight Electricity Centre, valued at $4.6 billion and a collaboration between Pembina Pipeline Corp., Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Kineticor Asset Management, is expected to generate 932 megawatts of power, with the potential to double that capacity in the future.
