PowerBank Corporation, an independent energy developer and asset owner in North America, has announced that its joint development partner has executed the first lease and is developing a 2 MW modular data center in Ontario, Canada. This is the first of several sites where PowerBank and its partner plan to develop powered shells and lease them to AI cloud operators.
According to a press release, the capital cost of the project, including land, the modular data center shell, electrical systems, direct-to-chip liquid cooling, and fiber connectivity, is estimated at CA$ 10 million (US$ 7.16 million). The capital will be funded by PowerBank and its partner. GPUs, servers, and related computing equipment are not included in the estimate.
“Compute is following power, and the companies that already have power in the ground are the ones that will win the next phase of AI,” said Richard Lu, PowerBank Chief Executive Officer. “This first lease shows our model at work: an energy site we have already developed now positioned to earn a second revenue stream from AI infrastructure.”
PowerBank estimates that the project could generate approximately CA$ 2 million (US$ 1.43 million) in annual lease revenue should certain conditions be met.. These include securing a tenant for the entire 1.77 MW of leasable IT capacity, lease rates staying consistent, construction being completed and the facility being operational in fiscal 2028, among several other factors. The company also said the project remains subject to power availability and to securing permits and zoning by-law amendments.
However, PowerBank says that demand for Canadian-hosted AI compute, including for data residency and sovereignty purposes, may benefit prospective tenants.
“As inference moves closer to the people and businesses who use it, North America will need many smaller data centers built in months, not a handful of giant campuses built over years. PowerBank’s portfolio is positioned for exactly that shift, and we expect this to be the first of many sites we advance with our partner,” said Lu.
Earlier this month, w.media reported that Defence Construction Canada (DCC), a Canadian Crown corporation, announced it was looking to construct a 60 MW data center facility at an estimated cost of between CA$ 1.5 billion and CA$ 1.85 billion (US$ 1.06 billion and US$ 1.31 billion). DCC said the facility will enable the onboarding of next-generation capabilities.