MASSIVE $15B data centre proposed for west-central Alberta | Daily Hive

A MASSIVE $15B data centre has been proposed for west-central Alberta

SNEHIT PHOTO/Shutterstock

A massive new data centre powered primarily by natural gas could be coming to west-central Alberta.

Emerald Energy Technologies, a subsidiary of Tourmaline Oil Corp., is planning to build the Malachite One data centre on Crown land about 40 kilometres southwest of Edson in Yellowhead County.

The project would be set next to Tourmaline’s existing Banshee Gas Plant and could include up to 7.1 million square feet of data centre space.

According to a presentation made to Yellowhead County on June 23, Malachite One would generate most of its own electricity.

Once it’s fully built, the project would consume approximately 150 million cubic feet of natural gas daily and generate 930 megawatts of electricity to power the data centre. Another 74 megawatts could come from the provincial grid, bringing the site’s total available power to around 1.1 gigawatts.

That’s roughly enough electricity to power more than 800,000 homes; instead, the power will be used for a data centre.

Malachite One is expected to be constructed in three phases over the next three to four years. Construction could begin in 2027, with the first part of the project expected to start operating in 2028.

Emerald says the data centre would be used for cloud computing, large-scale data processing and training artificial intelligence models.

According to Albert Major Projects, it’s projected to create 300 to 500 long-term jobs and 40 to 60 permanent positions at the power-generation facility.

The company is also considering adding carbon-capture and storage (CCS) to the project in 2031.

The proposed system would capture carbon dioxide produced by the natural gas power plant, compress it, and inject it approximately 3.8 kilometres underground into a storage reservoir.

According to the presentation, the CCS technology could capture up to 90 per cent of the power plant’s carbon dioxide emissions. However, CCS is an optional component and is not part of the project’s initial phase.

Emerald says Malachite One would primarily use a closed-loop, air-based system to cool its computing equipment, similar to what has been proposed for Meta’s massive AI data centre in Sturgeon County. Water would be used mainly by the power plant’s steam-generation system.

You might also like:

Possible sources identified by the company include the Embarras and McLeod rivers, groundwater, recycled power-plant water and water recovered during the carbon-capture process.

Emerald

Malachite One has not been approved yet. Before construction can begin, the project must go through several reviews and approvals by the province.

Emerald needs approval for its environmental impact, water use and power-generation plans. It would also need permission to build on Crown land. The province must also make sure Indigenous communities have been properly consulted.

Yellowhead County would also need to approve changing the land’s use from forestry to industrial and decide whether or not to issue a construction permit.

Emerald estimates the power-generation facility could cost up to $5 billion, with the data centre infrastructure costing up to $15 billion.

The company says the project could bring Yellowhead County an estimated $52.4 million in property taxes each year by 2032.

If the project goes ahead, it is expected to operate for about 30 years.