Meta builds first big Canadian data center

Meta said on July 8 that it is building its first data center in Canada, a 1-gigawatt campus in Sturgeon County, Alberta, as the company expands computing capacity for artificial intelligence. The company said the facility will be optimized for AI workloads and will become Meta’s 33rd data center globally. Meta said the project will represent an investment of more than C$13 billion and support more than 3,000 construction workers at peak and more than 300 operational jobs once the site is running. The Alberta government said the project is one of the largest private-sector investments in Canadian history. Premier Danielle Smith said the province had set rules requiring large AI data centers to bring their own power, pay for needed infrastructure and meet water and environmental requirements. Meta said it worked with Greenlight Limited Partnership, Altalink, Capital Power and the Alberta Electric System Operator to plan energy supply for the site. (about.fb.com) ### Where is Meta putting the project? Sturgeon County, Alberta, is the location Meta named for the data center. The county sits just north of Edmonton, and the company said the site will be its first data center in Canada. Alberta officials said the project was secured after roughly two years of work to market the province to large AI infrastructure investors. (boereport.com) Gary Demasi, Meta’s vice president of Data Center Strategy and Development, said Sturgeon County was chosen because of access to infrastructure and energy, a skilled workforce and local partners. His statement was included in the Alberta government’s July 8 announcement. ### How big is the investment, and what jobs did Meta attach to it? (about.fb.com) More than C$13 billion is the figure Meta and Alberta gave for the project. Meta said the campus will support about 3,000 construction workers at peak and more than 300 operational jobs after completion. Alberta said the project could generate about C$250 million a year in benefits for Albertans through royalties, taxes, levies and fees. (boereport.com) Meta also said it will invest about C$60 million in local infrastructure improvements, including roads and water infrastructure. The company said it will also launch its annual Data Center Community Action Grants program in the region to fund local nonprofits. ### How will the site be powered? (about.fb.com) Meta said it pays the full costs of its data centers’ energy use so consumers are not negatively affected, and that it funds new and upgraded infrastructure tied to its projects. The company said the Alberta facility’s electricity use will be matched with 100% clean and renewable energy, even as the province tied the project to new generation and transmission investments. (about.fb.com) The Alberta government said the project is linked to Project Greenlight, a 970-megawatt natural gas-fired generation facility announced earlier by Pembina Pipeline, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor. Alberta said that arrangement would help support reliability and lower transmission costs for ratepayers by up to 6%. (about.fb.com) ### What did Meta say about water use? Meta said the Sturgeon data center will use a closed-loop, liquid-cooled system with dry cooling. The company said that means there will be no operational water use in the cooling system. Water use at the site will be limited to domestic uses, fire protection and equipment maintenance, Meta said. (boereport.com) The company also repeated its broader goal of being water positive in 2030, meaning it aims to restore more water than it consumes globally where it has owned operations. (about.fb.com) ### What comes next for the Alberta project? Meta said it is breaking ground now, but did not give a completion date in its July 8 announcement. CNBC reported the company expects the project to take two to three years to build. The next public milestones are likely to come from Meta, Alberta and Sturgeon County as site work advances and energy and infrastructure build-outs move forward. (about.fb.com) Meta said the campus will come online with dedicated grid and local infrastructure investments already planned for the project.