A shark has made its way to Alberta.
The province is welcoming a project led byh Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary for a massive artificial intelligence data centre, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said this week.
“Wonder Valley,” perhaps a nod to O’Leary’s “Mr. Wonderful” nickname, will span thousands of acres in the Greenview Industrial Gateway in Greenview, Alta., near Grande Prairie.
O’Leary said that the 7,000 acres of land allow technology and nature to unite to power global innovation in a post to X.
The partnership will work to build an off-grid natural gas and geothermal power infrastructure.
The project is set to roll out in phases, according to a press release from O’Leary Ventures.
The first phase of the power solution will generate 1.4GW of power and cost around $2 billion USD, and subsequent rollouts will generate 1GW of power annually.
O’Leary said in an interview that power constraints in the United States made American sites less desirable.
He said irrespective of the state, they were handcuffing him on getting the power generation for data centres. Virginia, which O’Leary said hosts 45% of the data centres in the United States, recently passed a law banning the use of backup generators for data centres. He said data centres need to be active 99.99% of the time — a downtime of only 14 seconds per month.
“I don’t care what state you to go to, you go to the power authority there and say: ‘I need this. I just want 100MW.’ Can’t do it. We have no power in America right now,” said O’Leary.
Smith said the $70 billion project will be “the largest investment in Alberta’s history and the largest investment of its kind in the world” in a post to X. “With Alberta’s low taxes, free market, abundant natural gas and skilled labour force, we’re positioned to be a world leader in AI data centres.”
Smith added that as artificial intelligence grows, so will the need for more and bigger data centres. She said that over the last 20 years, the Alberta government has invested over $1 billion to grow its technology industry.
Alberta said it attracted the project through its business climate rather than through corporate welfare.
“While our government isn’t directly contributing to these infrastructure projects, we are doing our best to share our story with potential investors on how this province is the destination of choice for this type of infrastructure in North America,” a government spokesperson told True North.
While this project is set to be a $70 billion venture, Alberta Minister of Technology Nate Glubish said he believes Alberta could attract $100 billion or more of investment over the next five years across half a dozen AI data centre projects.
O’Leary Ventures CEO Paul Palandjian said the project aims to engage Indigenous communities to foster mutually beneficial relationships and honour the people and the lands for many years.
O’Leary explained what he deemed the “Greenview Model.”
“Alberta’s pro-business policies and attractive tax regime make the (Greenview Industrial Gateway) the perfect site for this project. We want to deliver transformative economic impact and the lowest possible carbon emissions afforded to us by the quality of gas in the area, our efficient design and the potential to add geothermal power as well,” said O’Leary.
He added that the site will generate 7.5GW of low-cost power over the next five to ten years.
“Given existing permits, proximity to stranded sources of natural gas, pipeline infrastructure, water and a fibre optic network within just a few kilometres of the Greenview Industrial Gateway, we will be in the ground and up and running sooner than any scale project of its kind,” he said.
The Municipal District of Greenview issued a press release confirming it signed a letter of intent with O’Leary to purchase and develop thousands of acres of land.
“This is more than just an investment in land; it’s an investment in the future of innovation and economic expansion for Canada,” said Reeve of Greenview, Tyler Olsen. “We’re excited to take this step forward, creating lasting benefits not only for our Municipality but for the surrounding communities, and the country as a whole.”
The $70 billion investment includes funding for infrastructure, power, data centres, and ancillary structures.
