A new natural gas-fired power plant is set to be operational in four years north of Edmonton, providing electricity to Meta Platforms Inc.’s upcoming data center. According to Meta spokesperson Stacey Yip, the $13 billion data center is expected to be operational within the next two to three years, with no specific timeline confirmed yet. Meta has the authorization to connect to Alberta’s power grid before the Greenlight Electricity Centre commences operations and can make arrangements with other suppliers if necessary.
In order to prevent strain on the province’s electrical system, Alberta’s grid operator has reserved 1,200 megawatts of capacity for significant projects like data centers until 2028. Capital Power recently announced a long-term energy supply contract for the Meta data center, providing 250 megawatts of electricity by the latter half of 2028. The Greenlight Electricity Centre, a $4.6 billion project led by Pembina Pipeline Corp., Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Kineticor Asset Management, is expected to generate 932 megawatts of power initially, with the potential to double that capacity in the future.