P.E.I. business leaders worry power system may not keep up with AI growth

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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - As Ottawa encourages industries to build and use AI, some business leaders on Prince Edward Island say the province’s power system could struggle to keep up.

The federal government announced new support this week for 44 companies across Canada through the AI Compute Access Fund. But on P.E.I., the conversation is turning to a more basic concern: whether the Island has the electricity infrastructure to support more digital and industrial growth.

“We seem to be on the precipice of an energy crisis,” said Bianca McGregor, CEO of the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce. “There are points in time where we’re at capacity.”

The chamber hosted a fireside chat with Industry Minister Melanie Joly this week, where energy security was a main topic of conversation. She was not available to answer questions following the event.

P.E.I.’s electricity supplier, Maritime Electric, has warned the province could face supply shortfalls at peak times.

In filings with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, the utility has described growing capacity constraints and said immediate solutions are needed to reduce the risk of rotating outages due to a lack of supply. Rotating outages are a last resort to help prevent wider blackouts.

Maritime Electric’s website also includes a grid status tool that shows customers how close the system is to exceeding capacity.

McGregor said reliable power is important not only for digital growth, but also for the province’s developing manufacturing sector.

“We don’t want to be taking from the general population in order to build that up,” McGregor said. “We’ve got a real opportunity to grow, and grow really fast … but we just won’t be able to do it if we don’t have energy and power.”

In a 2024 market snapshot, the Canada Energy Regulator said the rapid growth of artificial intelligence applications, particularly large language models and machine learning, is a significant contributor to rising energy demand and requires substantial computing power.

Most of P.E.I.’s electricity comes from New Brunswick through four underwater cables. Two are nearing the end of their useful lives, and the provincial government says replacing them is a high priority.

The province says the project will require federal funding and P.E.I. has applied for preliminary support.

At a news conference in Windsor, Ont., Thursday, CTV News asked federal Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon how much of the infrastructure burden Ottawa is prepared to fund for provinces concerned about energy security.

“There is a huge focus on making sure we’ve got baseload power and that we’ve got the energy grid to support the future,” Solomon said.

He pointed to the federal government’s new National Electricity Strategy, launched this week, which aims to double Canada’s grid capacity by 2050.

At the chamber’s President’s Luncheon on Thursday, dozens of hands went up when keynote speaker Jane Arnett asked who was already using AI.

“AI is here. It is everywhere. It’s being used all the time for operational efficiency,” said Arnett, a cybersecurity evangelist at Check Point Software Technologies.

Arnett said AI can help businesses move faster by taking on repetitive work, but it also comes with risks.

Without proper security tools and governance, she said companies could expose sensitive internal or customer information, or unknowingly use copyrighted material in marketing and other business materials.