The Alberta Utilities Commission has approved the Greenlight Electricity Centre, a 1,864 MW combined-cycle natural gas power plant to be built northeast of Edmonton in Sturgeon County. The joint venture between Pembina Pipeline and Kineticor is designed to meet surging electricity demand from AI data centers, with construction expected to peak at 1,500 workers and operations starting in 2031 for at least 40 years. The facility will export power to the Alberta grid and directly supply data centers. Critics, including the Pembina Institute, point out that natural gas generation produces significant greenhouse gas emissions, and they question why Alberta is not prioritizing wind, solar, and battery storage like other jurisdictions. The project highlights the tension between rapid data center growth and climate goals, as global data center electricity consumption is projected to double by 2027. Carbon credit markets and emissions policy will be central to evaluating the net environmental impact of this facility.
