AIBRIEF
A Meta manager promoted 3,000 construction jobs at the Alberta Industrial Heartland Association's annual conference while the 932 MW gas plant feeding the data centre isn't online until 2030.
Meta broke ground in July on a C$13 billion (about US$9.5 billion at recent exchange rates) data centre in Sturgeon County, Alberta, billed as the largest such facility in Canada. This week the company sent Matt Sexton, a community engagement manager based in Iowa, to make the local pitch at the Alberta Industrial Heartland Association's annual conference.
Sexton told the Behind the Build panel the project would create roughly 3,000 construction jobs at peak, more than 300 permanent operational positions, and 25 million work hours, framed as part of the region's broader industrial and economic-development story.
The piece that did not get a date is the power supply. The facility is sized at 1 gigawatt on the Alberta Major Projects registry, with energy tied to the Greenlight Electricity Centre, a 932 MW natural-gas plant whose in-service date sits in 2030. Meta separately announced 100% clean-and-renewable matching at groundbreaking and committed roughly C$60 million to Sturgeon County in roads and water.
What the AIHA panel did not take from the audience: how the 1-gigawatt facility runs for the years before its dedicated gas plant comes online, and what local electricity bills do in the meantime.