A major data centre campus could be coming to northeast Edmonton.
Stantec Consulting Ltd., on behalf of Walton Global Investments Ltd., has submitted an application to the City of Edmonton that would make it possible to develop data centres and the power generation needed to support them in part of the Edmonton Energy and Technology Park (EETP), located off Manning Drive and north of the Anthony Henday.
As first reported by Taproot Edmonton, the application seeks changes to the EETP Area Structure Plan.
City of Edmonton
As part of the proposal, about 253 hectares of land would be redesignated from the park’s Petrochemical Precinct to the Medium Industrial Precinct.
The proposal would also change the EETP’s eco-industrial policies, so they apply only to the Petrochemical Precinct.
The data centre campus has not been approved just yet. The application is seeking to change the area structure plan to allow this type of development, and further approvals would still be needed before any construction could begin.
The City is currently accepting public feedback on the proposal until Oct. 25. A public hearing has not yet been scheduled.
The proposal comes as more major data centre projects are being announced across 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 could include up to 7.1 million square feet of data centre space next to Tourmaline’s existing Banshee Gas Plant.
Meta also announced plans for a massive new $13-billion AI data centre in July. The facility will be built in an industrial area of Sturgeon County, with the Alberta government calling it one of the “largest private-sector investments in Canadian history.”
You can learn more about the proposal on the City of Edmonton website.