Aecon team wins $4.6B AI power infrastructure contract in Alberta

Key Takeaways:

• An Aecon-led consortium has won a multibillion-dollar contract to build a 932 MW natural gas power plant in Sturgeon County, Alberta.
• The site features pre-approved environmental and regulatory zoning to double its dispatchable generation capacity to 1,864 MW in future phases.
• The facility will directly power a massive, co-located data centre development, bypassing standard grid queues to feed rapidly growing AI infrastructure.

The Whole Story:

A consortium led by Aecon alongside Técnicas Reunidas Alberta, Inc., has been awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to build out power infrastructure for AI data centre development.

Specifically, the consortium will construct the Greenlight Electricity Centre (GLEC) in Sturgeon County. Aecon holds a majority share in the consortium, and its $1.7 billion portion of the contract value.

The mega-project is commissioned by Greenlight Electricity Centre Limited Partnership, a joint venture comprised of Pembina Pipeline Corporation, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Kineticor Asset Management. The contract represents the transition from early engineering and development work into active physical deployment. On-site construction is scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2026, with full facility completion and commissioning anticipated by 2030.

The GLEC project is a 932 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle power generation facility designed specifically to supply dedicated electricity to a major, co-located data centre development. The facility will address massive grid and infrastructure constraints caused by accelerating digital infrastructure, data centres, and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. Built with long-term scalability in mind, the Sturgeon County site has pre-permitted allowances to expand its generation capacity up to 1,864 MW, making it one of the largest new sources of dispatchable power generation in Alberta.

The consortium’s comprehensive construction scope includes executing all foundational civil works for both the current and future power islands. Additionally, crews will handle the structural, piping, mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation installations for the balance of the plant, alongside building a dedicated gas metering station, switchyard, and transmission substation. The award adds multi-year revenue visibility to Aecon’s portfolio, building on its extensive utility track record, which includes major Canadian assets like Ontario’s Napanee Generating Station and Portlands Energy Centre.

“The rapid advancement of AI infrastructure, data centres, digital transformation and economic growth are driving one of the most significant power infrastructure investment cycles, and unprecedented demand for power generation in North America. This contract award reflects Aecon’s multidisciplinary capabilities – supporting digital sovereignty and safely delivering large-scale, mission-critical infrastructure in sectors benefiting from long-term demand for power generation and grid expansion.” — Jean-Louis Servranckx, President and CEO of Aecon Group Inc.

“Executing a project of this scale requires world-class expertise. Working with our partner and client, Aecon’s execution discipline and experience building complex industrial and power infrastructure projects will be critical to safety, quality, schedule and cost performance.” — Thomas Clochard, Executive Vice President and COO of Aecon Group Inc.