EverWind announces $10B investment in N.S. data centre campus, wind projects

Energy and infrastructure company, EverWind , has announced plans for $10 billion in private investment in a data centre campus at its existing Point Tupper site near Port Hawkesbury, N.S.

The funding includes $8 billion to develop, construct, own, and finance the data centre, as well as $2 billion to advance the company’s onshore wind projects.

“This is the largest injection of private capital, we believe, in Nova Scotia history, and we could not be prouder to be here today,” said EverWind CEO Trent Vichie

Vichie said the company has reached a long-term lease agreement with a “leading AI company — a very, very large one,” which will identify itself later Friday.

The campus will begin with an initial 95-megawatt (MW) phase in late 2027. This will be followed by a 325-megawatt expansion targeted for 2028 subject to regulatory conditions.

At full development, EverWind expects the campus to reach a capacity of 420 megawatts to “meet growing demand for artificial intelligence and digital services.”

EverWind’s plan is to fund the electricity infrastructure costs attributed to the project so costs aren’t passed to ratepayers. The company noted the the data centre will have “several hundred megawatt hours” of battery storage to support the facility.

“Canada doesn’t have enough compute power. We need more compute power in this country. The data we use every day in our health-care system for all of our banking needs, everything on our phones. Business is run on on this data. Government runs on it,” said Premier Tim Houston.

“We need more secure infrastructure, more secure data infrastructure. This is part of that puzzle. This is really important for Nova Scotia, but also for our country.”

Vichie said the investment will mean 2,000 jobs during construction, followed by 215 “high paying permanent operating positions,” as well as indirect jobs.

“The investment here is anchored by a long-term commitment, so this will be here for a long, long time,” he said.

“This is investment that is in the ground here, supporting (not only Nova Scotia’s) energy economy, but its knowledge economy as well.”

Data centres are used in artificial intelligence (AI) and other high-tech industries, and require massive amounts of electricity not just to run, but also to cool the computer servers.

There have been concerns across the country about the environmental and health impacts of such centres.