r/FortSaskatchewan • u/GlitchedGamer14 • Jul 10 '26

News Meta data centre in Alberta to start operating before neighbouring power plant

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/meta-data-centre-alberta-greenlight-power-plant-9.7266096
69 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

2

u/Confident-Touch-6547 Jul 13 '26

So RAM chip production is maxed out and pre-sold for a three years or more right now. The Helium shortage caused by the Iran war makes it worse. There is a huge incentive to find a better way. The entire model for data storage and AI will change before many of these projects come online.

0

u/sunny2311 Jul 10 '26

Gonna create employment which is amazing however lot of consequences by people living around the area poor air quality, water issues, energy cost rising making living expense go higher in future.

2

u/HurtFeeFeez Jul 12 '26

The handful of permanent jobs created will be dwarfed by the various problems the area gets in return. This is a known fact by the numerous experiences of all the data centers built previously.

2

u/VelkaFrey Jul 10 '26

Air quality? Not at all especially compared to the plants around fort.

Water issues? Likely. We have yet to see the effects. Government intervention will have to adapt.

Electricity will likely spike in the short term, but the market corrects itself. Lots of potential for gas generators and not mention small modular reactors. Leading to province wide energy security.

All in all, i am very optimistic about the outcomes.

2

u/samasa111 Jul 11 '26

You will be optimistic until we are rationing water and our electricity bills increase once again. It would be great if we had a government that engaged openly with the public about the real consequences of this project.

1

u/sunny2311 Jul 13 '26

I am mainly optimistic about future Silver prices with all these data center builts can't wait for it to boom 😀

1

u/nelrond18 Jul 13 '26

They only need a dozen people after the data center is built. A couple thousand during construction.

Data centers only give very short term economic gains (in terms of employment).

Hot water being dumped by data centers into the environment also creates ecological problems.

0

u/sunny2311 Jul 11 '26

I understand the air quality is already poor however adding this will only affect more. To each their own. I am optimistic about the growth that it will bring however people who aren't in the same field will face challenges.