Meta officially broke ground today on a massive new 1-gigawatt data center in Sturgeon County, Alberta, marking the tech giant’s first physical infrastructure footprint in Canada.
The mega-project is a CAD $13 billion investment designed specifically to handle heavy artificial intelligence workloads, positioning the rural Alberta community as a central engine for the digital tools used by billions of people globally.
Construction is expected to heavily boost the local economy, requiring more than 3,000 workers at the peak of development. Once the facility opens, it will provide permanent employment for more than 300 operational staff.
As part of the construction agreement, Meta is injecting roughly CAD $60 million into area infrastructure upgrades, targeting local roads and water networks, while launching a community grants program for regional nonprofits.
Because data centers require intense amounts of power, Meta worked ahead with local energy providers, including Greenlight Limited Partnership, Altalink, Capital Power, and the Alberta Electric System Operator, to plan for the facility’s heavy demands.
The company stated it is fully funding the new generation and grid infrastructure required to support the facility, aiming to boost overall reliability for the Alberta grid. Additionally, the data center’s electricity consumption will be matched 100% with clean and renewable energy.
To address water usage concerns, the Sturgeon County facility will utilize a closed-loop, liquid-cooled system paired with dry cooling.
This setup eliminates water consumption from the operational cooling process, restricting water use entirely to domestic needs, equipment maintenance, and fire protection. Meta plans to fund the full cost of its water and wastewater services to avoid impacting local consumers, while publicly disclosing its annual water and energy data.
“We’re excited to call Sturgeon County home for our newest data center, and look forward to working with and contributing positively to the local community,” the company stated in its announcement.
The Alberta site marks the 33rd data center in Meta’s global fleet.
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