Meta has announced its plan to build a 1 GW AI data center in Sturgeon County, Alberta, marking the company’s first major data center in Canada. The Sturgeon data center project represents an investment of C$ 13 billion (US$ 9.18 billion).
According to a Meta press release, the facility will use a closed-loop, liquid-cooled system with dry cooling, which would result in annual operational water consumption being lower than a 50-acre farm in the region.
“Sturgeon County stood out as an ideal location for this data centre for its talented workforce, reliable infrastructure, and strong community partners,” said Meta. “We are committed to minimising the environmental impact of our data centres – we take a full-lifecycle approach, focusing on reducing environmental impact from design and construction through operations and the responsible management of our equipment.”
Meta also says that the data center project will add enough clean energy to Alberta’s electricity grid to match 100 percent of the Sturgeon Data Centre’s electricity consumption. Meta will also pay full costs for its data center’s energy use to avoid impacting the power bills of the nearby communities.
Planning for the project’s power requirements involved Greenlight Limited Partnership, Altalink, Capital Power and the Alberta Electric System Operator. The new generation and grid infrastructure is expected to improve reliability across Alberta’s electricity grid.
Meta has a goal of becoming water positive by 2030 by restoring more water than it consumes in watersheds where it operates. Meta intends to publish annual data on water withdrawals and energy use for its facilities and will disclose the Sturgeon Data Centre’s operational data once the site begins operating.
The launch of an annual Data Centre Community Action Grants programme in the area has also been planned to provide funding for local non-profit organisations. C$ 60 million (US$ 42 million) will also be spent on local infrastructure improvements, including roads and water infrastructure.