Alberta to hold first AI data centre town halls this week

Alberta’s technology minister is set to hear from residents in the central region tonight on what they think of artificial intelligence data centres.

Nate Glubish is scheduled to be in Lacombe for the first in a series of town halls.

Glubish has spent years crafting an AI strategy and wooing investors to build enormous computing complexes — and the large power supplies they require — in the province.

But data centre development has been met with fierce pushback from some residents concerned about water use, pollution and the potential impact on electricity bills.

Some opponents say the government’s consultations, because they came after major approvals and announcements, are disingenuous.

Premier Danielle Smith promises the AI boom will generate billions in royalties and taxes, use limited amounts of water and lower electricity transmission costs.

Smith is set to join Glubish for a virtual town hall on data centre development Aug. 27.

Two other in-person events are scheduled near other planned data centre projects.

On Thursday, Glubish is to host a town hall in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton, followed by one Sept. 11 in Grande Prairie.

Sturgeon County is set to be the home of a $13-billion data centre complex from Meta, the tech titan behind Facebook and Instagram.

Smith has said Alberta’s grid operator would use surplus energy to power Meta’s centre until a new natural gas-fired plant, called the Greenlight Electricity Centre, starts powering it in 2030.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Sturgeon County’s office earlier this month to protest the Meta plant.

In the Municipal District of Greenview, near Grande Prairie, another AI industrial park is being proposed by O’Leary Digital Limited, led by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary.

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has taken that potential development to court, arguing the First Nation wasn’t adequately consulted before the municipal district permitted the diversion of six billion litres of water per year.