Meta is preparing to plant a major footprint in Alberta, announcing plans to invest billions of dollars in a new artificial intelligence data centre just outside Edmonton. The project has been billed as historic and is being framed as one of the largest private sector investments in Canadian history, though it arrives alongside sharp questions about its appetite for energy and water.
The scale of the commitment is striking. According to CBC News, the investment is worth more than $13 billion, and the facility would be the first data centre in the country for Meta, the parent company of Facebook. At one gigawatt, it is set to become Meta's largest data centre anywhere outside the United States.
The site sits in an Alberta county less than an hour's drive from Edmonton. Observers say the decision by one of the world's biggest technology companies, with serious computing needs, to pick a Canadian location is significant, and is likely to be noticed by other firms operating at a similar scale.
The economic pitch is central to the project. Meta says the data centre will create more than 3,000 construction jobs, and the province has been actively courting investment from big technology companies. For Alberta, landing a name like Meta represents a marquee win in that effort.
Powering a facility of that size is a challenge in itself. The project is expected to run on the province's electricity grid and, eventually, on a new $4.6 billion natural gas plant built specifically to support it. Meta, for its part, says the electricity used by the data centre will be matched with 100% clean and renewable energy.
Not everyone is convinced the benefits come without cost. In towns near the future site, residents expressed mixed feelings, with the potential impact on water supplies emerging as the biggest worry. Meta says the centre will use little water thanks to a closed loop cooling system, but the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think tank, cautioned that delivering on the clean energy promises will not be so simple in Alberta.
The debate in Alberta mirrors a broader reckoning playing out across the country. As data centre construction booms nationwide, opposition has grown, with Hamilton recently imposing a moratorium and Manitoba rejecting a large proposal last month. As for the Meta project, officials say it is expected to take years before it is up and running.