Meta planning $13B AI data centre campus in Alberta

Key Takeaways:

• Adhering to Alberta’s “bring your own power” mandate, the facility will be powered by a dedicated $4.6 billion natural gas plant.
• The complex uses advanced closed-loop dry cooling to eliminate water use for cooling and will be situated away from agricultural land.
• The development will create 3,000 construction jobs, 300 permanent positions, and inject $60 million into local community infrastructure.

The Whole Story:

Tech giant Meta Platforms announced plans to build its first Canadian data centre in Sturgeon County, Alberta, marking a historic $13 billion investment that stands as one of the largest private-sector capital commitments in Canadian history.

Frost Collective, a joint venture with PCL Construction and Clark Builders, has been selected to help deliver the project. They are supported by an integrated project team that includes Stantec and SLB.

The massive 1,750-acre, one-gigawatt campus will be geared toward artificial intelligence workloads, rapidly expanding Meta’s global computing infrastructure while positioning Alberta as a prominent hub for the North American digital economy.

The project is structured under Alberta’s strict “bring your own power” regulatory guidelines for large-scale data centres. To satisfy the intense electricity demands of the facility without straining the public grid, Meta has partnered with Greenlight Electricity Centre Limited Partnership—a consortium of Pembina Pipeline Corporation, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Kineticor Asset Management. The group will construct the recently finalized $4.6 billion, 970 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle power generation facility directly behind the meter to supply the campus.

Because Meta is fully funding its own electricity generation and off-grid infrastructure, officials say the campus will minimize its draw on the province’s power supply. According to independent analysis by the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), the self-contained model will actually improve systemic power reliability and reduce transmission costs for everyday ratepayers by up to 6% across the province. Additionally, to combat common community pushback regarding water usage, the Sturgeon Data Centre will integrate a closed-loop, liquid-cooled system paired with dry cooling technology that requires zero operational water for cooling purposes.

The development is expected to generate massive regional economic benefits, creating more than 3,000 jobs during its peak construction phase and supporting 300 permanent, high-tech operational positions. Beyond the primary $13 billion campus build, Meta will inject $60 million directly into local municipal infrastructure improvements, including upgrades to regional road networks and public water systems. The campus will be situated within Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, a pre-zoned heavy industrial district north of Edmonton, which insulates the province’s agricultural and residential land from industrial sprawl.

“Artificial intelligence is transforming the global economy, and Alberta is making sure we lead rather than follow,” said Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta. “We created the right conditions to attract world-leading investments while protecting the interests of Albertans. This project will create thousands of jobs, generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, and make electricity more reliable and affordable.”

Sturgeon AI Data Centre Specifications

• Total Project Valuation: Over $13 billion (Meta’s 33rd data centre globally).
• Computing Power Capacity: One Gigawatt (1,000 MW) custom-engineered for heavy AI workloads.
• Dedicated Power Source: 970 MW Greenlight Electricity Centre ($4.6B behind-the-meter natural gas plant).
• Cooling Infrastructure: Closed-loop, liquid-to-dry cooling system requiring zero operational water use.
• Local Utility Impact: Up to a 6% reduction in transmission costs on domestic Albertan electricity bills.