Meta, the parent company of Facebook and instagramannounced that will invest more than $9.1 billion dollars to build your first data center for artificial intelligence in Canada, which will be the largest it has outside the United States.
The facility will be built in Sturgeon County, Alberta, and will be powered by a natural gas-fired thermoelectric plant. which is being developed by a consortium that includes Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Ltd.
Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish called the project “a big deal for Alberta” and said the province had created a regulatory framework to attract investment in data centers.
Alberta has been courting hyperscalable data centers as demand for AI infrastructure soars. But the rapid growth of AI has fueled concerns about the huge amounts of electricity and water these facilities require, as well as the strain they put on power grids and nearby communities.
Because Alberta’s power grid cannot sustain multiple large AI data centres, the province is prioritizing projects that build or secure their own power generation, as Meta plans to do.
Meta said the data center will use a closed-loop cooling system that will not draw water from nearby sources. The company also plans to invest $42 million in local infrastructure, including roads and water systems.
Last week, Pembina Pipeline, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor Asset Management announced they would move forward with the Greenlight Electricity Center in Sturgeon County. Meta was identified as the client. The 932-megawatt power plant is expected to begin operations in the second half of 2030.