Capital Power CEO expresses excitement about Alberta data centre opportunities

Hydro towers are seen in Montreal, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

CALGARY — The chief executive of Capital Power Corp. is expressing enthusiasm about opportunities to power new data centres in Alberta, as the province prepares to hammer out rules for connecting more projects to the grid without jeopardizing consumer reliability and affordability.

“The market environment is increasingly becoming more attractive for Alberta. The pace at which the announcements are coming out may not be at the pace that the market is expecting,” Avik Dey told analysts on a conference call Wednesday to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter results.

“But I think below the surface, the work that’s being done to facilitate new generation coming in... has been in some ways leading North America.

“We continue to be excited about it, and frankly more excited today than I’ve been at any other point in time.”

Data centres are enormous facilities that house the computing firepower needed for artificial intelligence and other applications. Such operations require massive amounts of energy to run and cool the computer servers.

The Alberta government aims to attract $100 billion in data centre development by the end of this decade, hoping to lure tech behemoths like Meta Platforms Inc. Some power generators have been looking at opportunities to provide power exclusively to a tech partner, while others have been eyeing options to add more juice to the overall grid.

The province aims to fast track the “bring your own power” proposals through the regulatory process.

The Alberta Electric System Operator is allowing the connection of up to 1,200 megawatts of large-load projects until 2028 — a small fraction of what had been requested — so as not to compromise reliability. That capacity has been snapped up by TransAlta and a joint-venture between Pembina Pipeline Ltd. and Kineticor.

The grid operator is consulting industry as it develops a long-term plan to enable more data centre investment without overburdening the province’s power system.

Capital Power has said its Genesee Generating Station west of Edmonton would be an ideal spot for a data centre partner to set up shop.

“I could not be more emphatic about the fact that we think we’ve got a world-class site that can materially increase generation,” Dey said.

He said its access to land, water and transmission infrastructure makes Genesee “probably one of the most attractive generation sites anywhere in North America” with an ability to expand.

In December, Capital Power announced a memorandum of understanding with New York-based Apollo Funds to form a US$3-billion investment partnership to buy U.S. merchant natural gas power assets.

Separately, it said it had entered into a binding MOU to negotiate a 250-megawatt electricity supply agreement with an unidentified investment-grade data centre developer in Alberta with an expected 2028 start date.

Earlier Wednesday, Capital Power reported a $13-million net loss for the fourth quarter, compared to net earnings attributable to shareholders of $240 million a year earlier.

The loss amounted to 12 cents per share versus a profit of $1.75 per diluted share during the final three months of 2024.

The Edmonton-based utility says its revenues and other income were $1.08 billion, an increase from $853 million in the prior-year quarter

Adjusted funds from operations rose to $244 million from $182 million year-over-year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2026.