The question around Alberta’s new AI data-centre push is no longer whether hyperscalers want land near Edmonton. It is whether they can secure enough electricity without colliding with the provincial grid.
Pembina Pipeline Corporation has now approved a $4.6 billion Greenlight Electricity Centre in Sturgeon County, and Juno News reports the unnamed data-centre customer is Meta Platforms, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Pembina has not publicly identified the customer. Its July 2 release says only that Greenlight will supply a “major data centre development” under a long-term tolling agreement. Reuters also reported that the customer remained unnamed when the project was announced.
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Still, the reported Meta link matters because the scale of the power project fits the new economics of AI infrastructure. Greenlight is planned as a 932 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle facility in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, with an in-service target in the second half of 2030. The site can be expanded to a permitted generation capacity of 1,864 MW, effectively giving the data-centre customer room to double the power footprint if later phases proceed.
The company said the project will operate under a tolling structure that includes capacity payments and usage-based payments tied to fuel, operations and maintenance. Pembina expects about $310 million in annual run-rate adjusted EBITDA net to Pembina, with total net investment of about $2.1 billion after $190 million in land-sale proceeds.
The project cost is also more locked down than a typical early-stage megaproject. Pembina said Greenlight has a Class III capital cost estimate of about $4 billion, with roughly 85% secured under fixed-price agreements. Including $600 million in interest during construction and other financing costs, the gross cost rises to about $4.6 billion, or about $2.3 billion net to Pembina.
The energy requirement is huge. Reuters reported the plant will require about 150 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, creating new demand for Western Canadian gas producers.
Juno News reported Tuesday that Meta is behind the planned Sturgeon County AI data centre and that the broader investment is expected to total roughly $13 billion, while noting the final figure could still change and that it was unclear whether the final proposal had been approved by Mark Zuckerberg and Meta’s board.
Alberta’s strategy explains why the project is structured this way. The province says its AI data-centre plan is built on power capacity, sustainable cooling and economic growth, with Alberta promoting natural resources, a cold climate, competitive taxes and lower regulatory friction as advantages. Sturgeon County says data-centre projects are expected to locate in industrial zones and are encouraged to generate their own power, reducing reliance on the shared provincial grid.
The county added that data centres are not expected to reduce power availability for residents because projects can use behind-the-fence power systems and any grid connection must go through the Alberta Electric System Operator. It also says developers are responsible for funding required infrastructure so growth costs are not shifted to residents.
For Meta, the reported Alberta project would fit a wider AI arms race where compute capacity has become a strategic input.
Meta shares closed at $615.59 on July 7, up 2.55% for the session, with a market capitalization of about $1.58 trillion. Pembina’s US-listed shares closed at $47.73, up 2.29%.
