Overview
- EverWind announced a $10‑billion plan for a data‑centre campus at Point Tupper and Anthropic confirmed a long‑term lease with staged capacity that starts at 95 megawatts in late 2027, expands to 325 megawatts in 2028 and could reach 420 megawatts at full build.
- Monday’s announcement triggered rapid local opposition, including a high‑traffic online petition, Halifax and Cape Breton protests and opposition parties demanding an emergency sitting of Nova Scotia’s legislature to review consultation and oversight.
- Energy and environment experts warn the site would quickly become Nova Scotia Power’s largest industrial customer and raise real concerns about electricity rates, grid reliability and limited groundwater unless independent analysis is done.
- EverWind says it will fund grid upgrades, build onshore wind capacity and use battery storage and closed‑loop cooling, but analysts say those promises are not the same as enforceable conditions written into law or contracts.
- The Point Tupper debate echoes a wider national surge of proposed hyperscale AI centres — with NB Power reporting 10 confidential connection requests totaling up to 900 megawatts — and renews questions about data sovereignty when U.S. firms operate Canadian facilities.