Overview
- Meta announced the groundbreaking in Sturgeon County on Wednesday and said the 1‑gigawatt campus will cost more than C$13 billion, support about 3,000 construction jobs at peak and roughly 300 permanent operations roles with a target opening in two to three years.
- The company identified itself as the customer for Project Greenlight, a roughly $4.6 billion, 932–970 MW natural‑gas power facility led by Pembina, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor that partners expect to enter service in the second half of 2030.
- Meta committed to pay the full energy costs for the site, fund new generation and upgraded grid connections, and match the campus’s electricity use with 100% clean or renewable energy while using closed‑loop liquid cooling to avoid operational draws on local water supplies.
- Environmental groups and some local residents voiced objections over emissions, water, noise and community impacts, with calls for stricter safeguards and a moratorium on very large data centres even as provincial officials stress industrial zoning and regulatory conditions.
- Alberta’s ‘bring your own power’ policy and AESO capacity allocations enabled the deal and could lower transmission costs for ratepayers and boost regional gas demand, but the arrangement raises clear trade‑offs between economic gains, grid reliability and provincial climate goals.