O'Leary Ventures and the Municipal District of Greenview have partnered to build an off-grid natural gas and geothermal project to power an undisclosed AI data center in Alberta, Canada.
The partners have signed a letter of intent with the Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG) to purchase thousands of acres near Grand Prairie in Northwestern Alberta, Canada.
The GIG's total development area spans 2,000 acres and is located on the Montney natural gas deposit. In addition to petrochemical production and processing, the area is one of Canada’s most active geothermal energy sources.
According to a spokesperson, the GIG will reach full buildout in 2027-2028. At that time, it will have a total capacity of 8.5GW and produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The project will also host up to 58 data centers.
The Montney Formation has the potential to produce 449 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, making it one of the biggest gas resources in North America. However, only a small amount has been developed, making it increasingly attractive to large-load customers such as data centers.
Former Dragon's Den/Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary (also known as Mr. Wonderful) and chairman of O'Leary Ventures contended that his company “sourced what we believe is the most compelling site in all North America to generate and offer 7.5GW of low-cost power to hyperscalers over the next five-10 years.”
Dubbed the "Wonder Valley," the project's first phase will include developing a 1.4GW redundant power solution and subsequent annual rollout of redundant power in 1GW increments. The initial phase is projected to cost $2 billion.
According to O'Leary, the total investment over the lifetime of the project will be "over $70 billion when considering the infrastructure, power, data centers, and ancillary structures."
O’Leary has previously invested in the cryptocurrency firm Bitzero.
Alberta is becoming a new hotbed for data centers due to its cool climate, ample land, and access to renewable energy or natural gas. Last month, TransAlta, a Canadian utility, reported it was in talks with “multiple hyperscalers” interested in developing data center campuses across Alberta.
However, concerns over grid reliability have led Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to legislate that if data centers wish to set up shop in Alberta, they will need to “Bring [their] own electricity, bring [their] own generation. Partner with a generating company.”
As of May, at least six proposals for data centers in Alberta, with a total capacity of 2GW, were in various stages. By October, a handful of major projects, including three of 500MW or more, joined the grid operator’s connection queue. In total, Alberta has 22 data centers, 12 in Calgary and nine in Edmonton.
