Every number, traced

Citations

Each figure on this site links back to a primary source, usually the filing rather than the coverage of it. If a claim is not sourced here, it does not belong on the site.

  1. Alberta Electric System Operator, “AESO Announces Interim Approach to Large Load Connections.” aeso.ca
  2. Alberta Electric System Operator, “Large Load Projects” policy page and dashboard index (names the two Phase 1 allocations and links to the full project dashboard). aeso.ca
  3. Bennett Jones, “Large Load Integration on Alberta’s Electricity Grid: The AESO’s Proposed Approach for Data Centre Connections.” bennettjones.com
  4. CBC News, “Alberta’s power grid ‘cannot possibly connect’ all proposed data centres, system operator says.” cbc.ca
  5. McCarthy Tétrault, “Alberta Faces a Surge in AI Data Centre Power Demand: AESO Responds with Phased Connection Plan.” mccarthy.ca
  6. Meta, “Breaking Ground on Meta’s First Data Center in Canada.” about.fb.com
  7. Government of Alberta, Major Projects register, “Technologies New Energy & Data District Data Centres (Phase 1).” majorprojects.alberta.ca
  8. The Narwhal, “Alberta regulator rejects Canada’s largest data centre.” thenarwhal.ca
  9. Maclean’s, “The Farmers Who Fought a Data Centre and Won.” macleans.ca
  10. Government of Alberta, “Who Benefits, AI Data Centres in Alberta.” alberta.ca
  11. CBC News, “Alberta government kicks off town hall tour on data centre development,” and Canada’s National Observer, “At a testy town hall, Albertans decry data centre rush.” cbc.ca · nationalobserver.com
  12. CBC News, “Alberta wants to become an AI data centre hub, but this rural county just rejected a big proposal” (Rocky View rejects Kineticor Asset Management’s campus, 6–1). cbc.ca
  13. Medicine Hat News, “Alberta county puts moratorium on data centre proposals after public pushback.” medicinehatnews.com
  14. CBC News, “No provincial environmental impact assessment required for Kevin O’Leary’s proposed Wonder Valley data centre.” cbc.ca
  15. Canada’s National Observer, “Alberta municipality hid deal for Kevin O’Leary data centre during key public hearings” (and the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation’s water-licence litigation). nationalobserver.com
  16. Bartow County, Georgia, Office of the County Administrator, “Data Centers: Bartow County Policy Statement,” August 2026 (a 100 MW tower-cooled site uses about 500,000 US gallons , roughly 1.9 million litres , a day; closed-loop and air-cooled designs cut consumption by up to 95%). bartowcounty.gov (PDF)
  17. Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), “Data Centers in Virginia,” Report 598, December 2024 (the industry used about 2.1 billion US gallons in 2023, just over a third of it reclaimed water; most data centres use about as much as a large office building; industry use was 2 to 21% at the six utilities reviewed). jlarc.virginia.gov (PDF)
  18. Government of Alberta, “How do data centres use water?” and the AI Data Centres hub (First In Time, First In Right; a new data-centre licence would be among the most junior in a basin; household use is never curtailed; most southern-Alberta basins closed to new surface-water licences since 2006). alberta.ca/datacentres/water
  19. Government of Alberta / Sturgeon County / Meta joint news release, July 8, 2026 (Meta’s Sturgeon campus will use a closed-loop, liquid-cooled system with dry cooling and “no operational water use for cooling”; site water limited to domestic uses, fire protection and equipment maintenance). sturgeoncounty.ca
  20. ITK Research, “Data centre operating cost structures: traditional cloud versus AI” (closed-loop chiller cooling adds roughly 20 to 25% to energy use versus evaporative cooling). itkservices3.com
  21. Government of Alberta, Data Centre Regulation, Alta Reg 117/2026 (filed June 9, 2026), made under the Electric Utilities Act. Codifies “bring your own generation” and tethering for large-load facilities. open.alberta.ca/publications/2026_117 · analysis: Osler
  22. CBC News, “Alberta Utilities Commission rejects power plant for Olds data centre plan” (Aug 17, 2026) , the AUC found the 1.4 GW gas + 1.8 GW backup plant “not suitable.” cbc.ca
  23. Fasken, “Dispute over AI data-centre water rights continues” (Aug 2026) , the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation’s judicial review of the Wonder Valley water licence; the court dismissed O’Leary Digital’s strike bid Aug 13, 2026, with a King’s Bench hearing expected December 2026. fasken.com
  24. CBC News , the AESO’s 1,200 MW interim cap is fully allocated to two Edmonton-area pathways (~970 MW Pembina/Meta and ~230 MW TransAlta Keephills), leaving ~37 other proposals to go off-grid. cbc.ca
  25. National Observer investigation (Mar 23, 2026) , roughly three-quarters of Alberta’s ~38 proposed data-centre sites sit in areas of high water stress. nationalobserver.com
  26. eStruxture, a $750M, 90 MW data centre in the Calgary area, billed as the largest in Alberta (Oct 30, 2024). estruxture.com · TNE / Data District, >1 GW pipeline (Olds, Bonnyville); the Alberta Major Projects register (source 7) lists the project at $1.26 billion (€780 million): datacenterdynamics.com
  27. Columbia Law School, Sabin Center Climate Law Blog, “Decommissioning Data Centers: Avoiding Stranded Assets” (Aug 2026), abandoned hyperscale sites are hard to repurpose; communities can require decommissioning plans and financial assurance. ReImagine Appalachia: data-centre equipment is typically replaced every 3 to 5 years; Microsoft extended its lifespan from 4 to 6 years, and with planning and maintenance equipment can last up to ten. blogs.law.columbia.edu · community tools: ReImagine Appalachia
  28. ASME, Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities, “Data Center Waste Heat as an Emerging Urban Thermal Hazard” , field measurements found downwind air up to 2.2 °C warmer (0.7–0.9 °C average), detectable ~500 m from the facility. asmedigitalcollection.asme.org
  29. Weather.com, “AI Data Centers May Be Warming The Land Around Them” (Apr 14, 2026), reporting a study that has yet to be peer-reviewed: ~3.6 °F average land-surface temperature rise near AI facilities, up to 16 °F in places, with effects up to about 6 miles away. This is land-surface temperature from satellite data, a different measurement from the air temperature in source 28. weather.com
  30. Commission for Regulation of Utilities (Ireland), “Large Energy User connection policy decision paper,” CRU/2025236, 12 December 2025 — large energy users must have dispatchable generation matching import capacity, separately metered, participating in the wholesale market. Decision PDF read directly. cru.ie (PDF)
  31. Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, data-centre tariff for AEP Ohio, case 24-508-EL-ATA, ordered 9 July 2025 — 85% minimum take, 12-year term, exit fee. Mechanism read from the Vorys summary, not the order itself. Outcome figures from AEP Ohio, 13 February 2026: about 30,000 MW of pre-tariff requests became 5,642 MW of signed contracts. aepohio.com · vorys.com (summary)
  32. Evergy Kansas Central, Large Load Power Service tariff sheet, November 2025 — 80% minimum bill, collateral equal to two years of minimum bills. evergy.com (PDF)
  33. Georgia Public Service Commission, docket 44280, Georgia Power rules filing of 10 January 2025, effective 1 February 2025 — loads at or above 100 MW pay upstream generation and transmission costs; contracts filed with the Commission. psc.ga.gov (PDF)
  34. Texas Senate Bill 6, enrolled text, June 2025 — §37.0561(f) study fee of at least $100,000; §37.0561(d) must disclose a substantially similar request filed elsewhere; §37.0561(e) backup generation disclosed and deployable on ERCOT’s order; §39.170 curtailment during firm load shed. capitol.texas.gov
  35. EU Energy Efficiency Directive, Article 12 and Annex VII — every data centre above 500 kW IT load reports energy, water including potable, heat reuse and renewables, public since 15 May 2024. covington (PDF summary)
  36. EU Energy Efficiency Directive, Article 26(6) — waste heat above 1 MW must be reused unless a cost-benefit analysis shows it infeasible. covington (PDF summary)
  37. Germany, Energieeffizienzgesetz § 11, statute text — new data centres from 1 July 2026 must reach at least 10% reused energy, 15% from 2027 and 20% from 2028. Note: a 2026 amendment is before the Bundestag and is not in force. gesetze-im-internet.de
  38. Stockholm Exergi / Stockholm Data Parks, Covenant of Mayors case study, September 2023 — data centres are paid approximately €190,000 per year per megawatt of heat delivered. eu-mayors.ec.europa.eu (PDF) · eurelectric.org
  39. Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Ordinance 2025-01 (SALDO Data Centers), enacted 29 December 2025 — decommissioning security equal to net decommissioning cost plus 10%, delivered before construction begins; removal within twelve months; closed-loop cooling mandatory. susqco.com (PDF)
  40. Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, data-centre ordinance, document dated 26 June 2026 — financial assurance by bond, parent guarantee or letter of credit, never less than 100% of third-party estimated decommissioning cost, re-estimated every ten years. mifflincountypa.gov (PDF)
  41. Henry County, Virginia, data-centre ordinance adopted 25 August 2026 — financial assurance covering estimated decommissioning cost, reviewed every three years; 50 dBA at the property line; 1,000-foot setback from non-industrial; closed-loop cooling only. henrycountyva.gov
  42. Québec, Bill 69 (adopted June 2025) — megawatts allocated comparatively on economic contribution, environmental and social impact and energy efficiency, maximising benefits per megawatt consumed. Read via BLG’s summary, not the statute. blg.com (summary)
  43. Auditor General of Alberta, “Mine Financial Security Program,” December 2025 — “As of September 2025, the government held $1.8 billion in security for oil sands mines, compared to an estimated reclamation liability of $51.9 billion.” PDF read directly. oag.ab.ca (PDF)
  44. Alberta Regulation 117/2026, Data Centre Regulation (Electric Utilities Act), filed June 9, 2026 (per Osler; the King’s Printer text itself reads “current as of June 09, 2026”), read in full from the King’s Printer text. Section 10: when supply will be inadequate, bridged data centres must cut demand before all other market participants; when mandatory load shedding is required, all large data centres (75 MW or more, section 2) are cut first. Sections 5, 6 and 8: a data centre may be “tethered” to new generation that at least matches its maximum demand, and tethered projects are processed first, but tethering is optional. Section 9: bridged grid access lasts at most three years. Section 12: the regulation must be reviewed by May 31, 2030 and expires May 31, 2035. kings-printer.alberta.ca · open.alberta.ca
  45. Government of Alberta, reclamation security for wind and solar, in force 1 January 2025 — new projects post 30% of third-party estimated reclamation cost at registration and 60% at year 15; existing projects 15% and 60%. Applies to wind and solar only. osler.com (background)
  46. Pembina Institute, “Footing the Bill: How hyperscale data centres could increase electricity bills in Alberta” (factsheet and media release, Aug 26, 2026) — Meta’s data centre could raise the average household’s annual bill by about $267 to $462 from 2027 to 2031, and reduce the transmission portion by up to 6%, “less than $20 per year.” An estimate, with stated assumptions. pembina.org (PDF) · release · technical backgrounder (PDF)
  47. Bennett Jones, “Alberta’s BYOG Framework” (Jul 9, 2026) — bridging up to three years, a proposed 1,600 MW system-wide cap, bridged sites curtailed first; under the grid operator’s provisional proposal, renewables and stand-alone storage are excluded. A proposal, not the regulation. bennettjones.com
  48. Wheeler, Everett, Williamson & Prybutok, “Infrasound and Low-Frequency Noise in Data Center Environments,” Clean Technologies 8(4):126 (Aug 7, 2026) — A-weighting discounts 63 Hz by more than 26 dB and infrasound by more than 50 dB; no published study has yet measured the infrasound and low-frequency noise spectrum of an operating data centre. A narrative review. mdpi.com · abstract (RePEc)
  49. Environmental Law Centre, “Are we being smart about AI data centres?” (Jun 24, 2026) — environmental assessment ruled not required for Wonder Valley and the Olds project; a preliminary certificate to divert up to 24,000,000 m³ a year granted to the municipality; developers “should be required to obtain their own water licence to ensure transparency and accountability.” elc.ab.ca
  50. Government of Alberta, “Data centres: managing risk” — “when any facility reaches the end of its life, the company that built it is responsible for decommissioning it”; regulators can require financial security. alberta.ca
  51. Rocky View County Bylaw C-8766-2026, approved July 21, 2026 — changes a Data Centre Campus from a permitted use to a discretionary use in the S-DAT district; moratorium motion passed 5–2. cftrtherogue.com · cbc.ca
  52. Pembina Pipeline, “Positive Final Investment Decision on the Greenlight Electricity Centre” (Jul 2, 2026) — 932 MW; about $4.6B gross (including financing); owned by Pembina 47.5%, MSIP 47.5%, Kineticor 5%; in service expected in the second half of 2030. pembina.com
  53. Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, Greenlight Electricity Centre Project, registry 89790 (decision Nov 21, 2025) — up to 1,864 MW from four gas/steam turbine line-ups, in operation for at least 40 years; “no further assessment is required.” iaac-aeic.gc.ca
  54. The Energy Mix (Dec 3, 2025) — Pembina Institute senior analyst Jason Wang estimates Wonder Valley, designed around 7.5 GW of gas-fired power, could emit 25.7 to 30.5 megatonnes a year if built as planned, depending on turbines, gas and carbon capture. An estimate. theenergymix.com
  55. Town of Olds, Engage Olds “Current Status” — the AUC denied Synapse’s power plant on Aug 17, 2026 (“the site is simply not suitable for the proposed development”); the Town “has not received an active development permit application.” engage.olds.ca
  56. Government of Alberta news release on the Greenlight Electricity Centre final investment decision, July 2, 2026: “about 1,000 good-paying construction jobs and 30 long-term skilled positions.” Read as reprinted by Lethbridge News Now. lethbridgenewsnow.com
  57. Government of Alberta, Major Projects register, Greenlight Electricity Centre: “expected to employ about 1,500 workers at the peak of construction”; estimated cost $4.6B. majorprojects.alberta.ca
  58. Global News, Dec 4, 2024: Technology Minister Nate Glubish “hoping to see $100 billion worth of artificial intelligence data centres under construction within the next five years.” The figure does not appear in the province’s AI Data Centre Strategy document itself. globalnews.ca
  59. Government of Alberta, Budget 2026 Fiscal Plan 2026–29, Feb 26, 2026: the data centre levy is “fully deductible against a data centre’s corporate income taxes”; rates “as high as two per cent,” with a zero rate proposed for power not drawn from the grid; “$102 million from the Data Centre Levy effective 2028-29.” open.alberta.ca (PDF)
  60. Gowling WLG, “Powering the cloud” (Jan 12, 2026): the levy formula (45% of the cost of computing equipment under four years old, 15% if older, at 1% to 2%); the credit is not refundable, carries forward seven years, and can make the levy “effectively... a final tax.” Law-firm summary. gowlingwlg.com
  61. Alberta Municipalities, “Property taxes generated from a data centre” (Apr 7, 2026): “The computing equipment is not subject to assessment”; and Rural Municipalities of Alberta (Sept 19, 2025): this “greatly reduces the potential tax revenue for rural municipalities.” abmunis.ca · rmalberta.com
  62. Government of Alberta, “Data centres by the numbers”: Meta transmission fees “~$196.8M / year,” “estimated at 970 MW of demand transmission service (DTS), 90 per cent load factor, AESO default pool price.” alberta.ca
  63. Alberta Electric System Operator, “AESO Update on Data Centres,” September 2025: “over 20,000 MW of data centre load now on the AESO project list”; “there are other large loads requesting service”; Phase II question: “Are large loads paying their fair share of transmission costs?” aeso.ca (PDF)
  64. Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, “Data Centers in Virginia,” Report 598 (Dec 2024), read via Prince William County’s official summary: the sales-tax exemption “provided $928.6M savings in FY23”; “data centers provide economic benefits, mostly during their initial construction.” pwcva.gov (PDF) · jlarc.virginia.gov (PDF)
  65. Thi Serena To, “Alberta’s AI Data Center Opportunity: Economic Impacts and Investment Strategy,” University of Calgary graduate capstone, Aug 31, 2025. Student research, not peer-reviewed. ucalgary.scholaris.ca
  66. Meta, Self-Serve Ad Terms, section 15 (effective Aug 22, 2025): advertisers in the United States and Canada contract with “Meta Platforms, Inc.” facebook.com
  67. Government of Alberta, Major Projects register, “Meta Data Center”: proponent “Meta Platforms Inc.”; under construction; schedule “2026 - 2029”; site grading began May 2026. majorprojects.alberta.ca
  68. Meta Platforms, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025: expected 2026 effective tax rate “in the range of 13-16%”; the OECD 15% global minimum tax “did not have a material impact” in 2025. sec.gov
  69. Government of Canada, Global Minimum Tax Act: “a minimum effective tax rate of 15% applies to the profits of qualifying MNE groups, in every jurisdiction in which they operate.” canada.ca
  70. Government of Alberta, taxes and levies overview: “Alberta’s general corporate income tax rate is currently 8%”; the data centre levy “came into effect on January 1, 2026.” alberta.ca
  71. Capital Power, long-term energy supply agreement with Meta, July 8, 2026: 250 MW for a term “greater than 10 years,” “anticipated to enter service by the back half of 2028,” from its existing Alberta generation fleet. capitalpower.com
  72. Sturgeon County, 2025 Taxation Rates Bylaw 1671/25: general municipal tax levy of $103,974,332, of which $85,465,600 is non-residential and machinery and equipment. sturgeoncounty.ca (PDF)
  73. St. Albert Gazette, July 2026: Mayor Alanna Hnatiw on “upwards of $40 million per year in tax revenue for Sturgeon County” (the paper’s paraphrase); and Sturgeon County’s budget engagement page: an assessment appeal on one heavy industrial property “could reduce the annual tax revenue by up to $20 million.” stalbertgazette.com · engage.sturgeoncounty.ca
  74. Greenlight Electricity Centre, Initial Project Description (Stantec), Impact Assessment Agency of Canada registry 89790, July 30, 2025: emissions intensity 348 kg CO2e/MWh; 5,677 kt CO2e a year at the full 1,864 MW and 100% utilization; about 1,500 workers at peak; “more than 40 direct, long-term skilled jobs”; carbon capture “not currently part of the project”; 18 Indigenous groups to be engaged. iaac-aeic.gc.ca (PDF)
  75. Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, TIER fact sheet for electricity facilities: the electricity high-performance benchmark is 0.3404 t CO2e/MWh in 2026, declining two per cent a year. alberta.ca (PDF)
  76. Prime Minister of Canada, Canada–Alberta agreement, May 15, 2026: the TIER carbon price reaches “$115 by 2030” and “$130 by 2035.” pm.gc.ca
  77. CBC News, May 12, 2025: Alberta freezes its industrial carbon price at $95 a tonne. cbc.ca
  78. Government of Alberta, Alberta Natural Gas Reference Price: $1.35/GJ for July 2026; $2.46/GJ for January 2026. alberta.ca
  79. Government of Alberta, Modernized Royalty Framework fact sheet: “a flat royalty of 5% on a well’s early production,” then a rate with “a minimum of 5% and a maximum of 40%.” open.alberta.ca (PDF)
  80. CBC News, July 16, 2025: Woodland Cree First Nation’s data-centre project, 51% Indigenous-owned, with 650 MW of on-site gas power. cbc.ca
  81. Government of Alberta, Major Projects register entries: eStruxture CAL-3, Beacon Foothills, Beacon Heartland and Wonder Valley (investment, size, jobs and status as stated by each proponent); eStruxture’s own announcement (about 250 at peak, 45 to 50 permanent). majorprojects.alberta.ca · estruxture.com
  82. Invest Olds (Jan 27, 2026) on Synapse, and Town of Olds (Dec 18, 2025) on TNE / Data District: proponent figures for investment and jobs. investolds.ca · olds.ca
  83. Pembina Institute, media release, July 8, 2026: the Greenlight plant “would emit 3 megatonnes of CO2.” Advocacy group; no method published. pembina.org
  84. Alberta Electric System Operator, consolidated written feedback on Large Load Integration (June 26 to July 13, 2026): submissions from the Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta, the Alberta Direct Connect Consumer Association and AltaLink. aesoengage.aeso.ca
  85. Government of Alberta, Major Projects register: Dow Path2Zero, Fort Saskatchewan ($10.1B; “approximately 400-500 full-time jobs once operational”), and Linde’s clean hydrogen facility. Peak construction figures for Path2Zero differ between the register and Dow. majorprojects.alberta.ca
  86. Québec, Bill 69 (S.Q. 2025, c. 24), s. 63: the minister weighs “the economic benefits and social and environmental impacts” of each request of 5 MW or more; Québec’s first selection round (11 of 21 projects, 956 of 2,671 MW); Hydro-Québec, Feb 19, 2026: data-centre rate averaging about 13¢/kWh, about double the large-power rate. publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca (PDF) · hydroquebec.com
  87. Market Surveillance Administrator, Wholesale Market Report Q2 2026 (Aug 6, 2026): Cal 29 up 18% to $75.25/MWh and Cal 30 up 25% to $83.00/MWh in the quarter, “largely driven by data centre developments”; the same contracts fell about 20% in late January and early February, partly on “pessimism around future data centre load.” albertamsa.ca (PDF)
  88. Alberta Electric System Operator, 2025 Annual Market Statistics (average pool price $43.68/MWh; 90,371 GWh) and Delivered Cost of Electricity Report, May 31, 2020 (industrial about 65% of load, commercial 20%, residential 13%, farm 3%). aeso.ca (PDF) · aeso.ca (PDF)
  89. Canada’s National Observer, July 20, 2026: Capital Power’s investor materials: every $10/MWh rise adds “roughly $140 million a year” to its Alberta plants’ earnings; its federal submission: the data centre “would save over $1 billion in ‘system-wide’ transmission costs over eight years.” As reported. nationalobserver.com
  90. BuildForce Canada, Alberta construction outlook 2026–2035, July 20, 2026: 48,800 workers needed by 2035; 43,700 retiring; “a shortfall of as many as 5,300 construction workers by the end of the decade.” Industry labour-market body. buildforce.ca
  91. Meta, Odense Data Center information sheet, Feb 2025: “165,000 megawatt hours of free surplus heat” delivered to district heating for “up to ~9,000 households.” datacenters.atmeta.com (PDF)
  92. Norris et al., “Rethinking Load Growth,” Duke University Nicholas Institute, NI R 25-01, 2025: “76 GW of new load... could be integrated with an average annual load curtailment rate of 0.25%.” nicholasinstitute.duke.edu
  93. Google, March 19, 2026: “We’ve now signed 1 GW of data center demand response with utility partners.” blog.google
  94. Alberta Electric System Operator, Guide to Connection Requirements for Transmission-Connected Data Centres, June 12, 2026: limits restored “in 30 minutes or less,” which “may include curtailment or shedding” of data-centre load. aeso.ca (PDF)
  95. AEP Ohio statement to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, February 2026: 5,642 MW signed under the data-centre tariff, plus 12,219 MW signed before it (17,861 MW total), against 30,000 MW requested before the tariff. As reprinted by the Ironton Tribune. irontontribune.com
  96. Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority, Green Data Centre Roadmap, May 30, 2024 (at least 300 MW of additional capacity); Xinhua, Aug 21, 2026 (200 MW allocated from more than 20 proposals). imda.gov.sg
  97. Meta Platforms, Q1 2026 results (2026 capital expenditures “in the range of $125-145 billion”); US Federal Reserve, Financial Stability Report, May 2026 (“capital expenditures are increasingly funded by debt”); Utility Dive, Nov 24, 2025 (Georgia PSC staff on data centres “underperforming expectations”). investor.atmeta.com · federalreserve.gov (PDF) · utilitydive.com
  98. International Energy Agency, “Energy and AI,” April 2025: global data-centre electricity use about 415 TWh in 2024, 945 TWh by 2030 in the base case. Read via Brookings. iea.org
  99. Alberta Energy, Oil sands royalty data, project-level royalty payments by year (Fort Hills, project OSR127; Horizon, project OSR060), files as of May 6, 2026. Fort Hills paid $239.0M (2023), $299.2M (2024) and $220.2M (2025), all pre-payout. open.alberta.ca
  100. Global News, “Fort Hills oilsands project achieves first oil production,” January 2018: capital cost “between $16.5 billion and $17 billion.” globalnews.ca

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