Calgary, Alberta-based Pembina Pipeline is inching closer to a final investment decision (FID) on what would be one of Canada's first and largest natural gas-fired power complexes designed to serve electricity-intensive data centers running artificial intelligence (AI) software.
The Greenlight Electricity joint venture — which is 50pc owned by Pembina and 50pc owned by power developer Kineticor and pension fund manager OPTrust — expects to make a final investment decision on the project during the first half of next year, with construction to begin north of Edmonton starting in 2027, Pembina said Monday.
Greenlight has entered into a C$190mn ($136.2mn) land purchase agreement for the project in Sturgeon County, near Alberta's refining and petrochemical hub. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year, Pembina said.
Greenlight has also secured a reservation agreement for two gas-fired turbines for the first phase of the project, which is expected to start up in 2030.
The first phase will provide 900MW of power and require about 160mn cf/d (4.5mn m³/d) of natural gas from Pembina's Alliance pipeline expansion, which can be scaled to 320mn cf/d. Once complete, the facility will generate 1,800 MW of combined cycle power to be used for data centers.
The government of Alberta is seeking to attract C$100 billion worth of new gas-fired AI data centers over the next five years. Provincial officials have promoted the region's copious gas reserves as the backbone of the new digital economy, claiming that dozens of hyper-scale data centers would stimulate drilling, pipelines, and royalty revenues.
Greenlight chose to build its power complex in Sturgeon for its proximity to proposed carbon capture hubs and established infrastructure. When fully built, the 180-acre facility will include four gas powered turbines that will capture waste heat to generate additional electricity via a steam powered generator. The company said the process is as much as 50pc more efficient than traditional gas powered generation.
The cost of the project was not disclosed.
