CALGARY
TransAlta Corp., Brookfield and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are planning a large-scale data centre west of Edmonton after signing a memorandum of understanding in February.
The project, called the Boreal Technology Hub, would be built in Parkland County directly south of TransAlta's existing gas-fired Keephills Generating Station.
Alberta's grid operator has granted 230 megawatts for an initial phase, and at full build-out the site could require as much as 1,600 megawatts.
"The takeaway was, they want to understand more around data centres," TransAlta CEO Joel Hunter said Tuesday on a conference call, referring to a community open house a month ago.
"Even though we talk a lot about data centres, it's still relatively new and they have questions around 'What's the amount of noise that will come from the facility? What's the amount of water that would be used?'"
Hunter said the four-hour session attracted about 180 attendees and went well.
"There were no protests or anything like that. It was really people just trying to get more information," he said.
TransAlta, previously a major coal-fired power producer, has been present in the region for more than 70 years and has a long history of engaging with nearby residents, Hunter added.
Another community session is scheduled for next week at the community hall in the hamlet of Keephills.
Residents will be able to take a deeper dive into the technical aspects of the project, the regulatory process and community benefits.
The Alberta government has been looking to attract data centre developers to the province, which has plentiful natural gas and land.
But it has also been mindful of not overburdening the provincial electrical system, requiring entrants to provide their own power and capping how much can initially be drawn from the grid.
Hunter praised the province's approach.
"(The province) has been very deliberate and very focused on ensuring they don't want to compromise reliability or affordability here for Albertans," Hunter said.
"At times, people might feel a bit frustrated by that. But I think it's actually very intentional and being very focused not only on the medium term but the long term."
He noted that in some U.S. jurisdictions, development has raced ahead too fast, driving up consumers' power bills and leading to abrupt reversals in the form of moratoriums.
Earlier Tuesday, the Calgary-based company reported its third-quarter financial results.
TransAlta said it earned a profit attributable to common shareholders of $63 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
That compared with a loss of $62 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, for the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, TransAlta says it earned 18 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted loss of two cents per share in the third quarter of 2025.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $536 million, down from $615 million a year earlier.
This story was written by the e2gold.ca newsroom from reporting by BNN Bloomberg and CTV News. Quotes are checked word for word against that reporting.