How will data centres impact Alberta's electricity grid?

How will data centres impact Alberta's electricity grid and who's watching out for Albertans? We can't explain that without first explaining how the grid works and it's complex. The utilities minister says Alberta's model is pretty unique. That's because power generation is done privately. It's unregulated. The province says power distribution and transmission are highly regulated. Obviously our priority number one is a reliable grid. Two independent bodies handle most of the regulation. The big one, the Alberta Electric System Operator, or AESO. Its mandate is to ensure safe and reliable planning and operation of Alberta's grid. That means assessing all grid connection requests, including large load projects like data centers. The other body is the Alberta Utilities Commission, or AUC. It decides whether proposed plans are in the public interest. The AUC is behind the cancellation of the large data center in Olds. It rejected the project's proposed power plant. The commission was concerned over its location so close to the town. That decision effectively killed the project's plan. The province is trying to become a major hub for data centers in North America and a lot of facilities want in. ASO's data center map shows active projects in Alberta. It also tracks how many are proposed. Now researchers don't expect all of these projects to go ahead, but look at this data from July. It shows that if they did all proceed, they could use more than 20,000 megawatts. That's enough to power 11 cities the size of Calgary during its peak demand. Compare that to Ontario, which has 672 megawatts of plant capacity. And since this data was released, Saskatchewan has now approved a 900-megawatt center, another example of how fast the industry is moving here. Almost as much demand for electricity as we have in Alberta today. There is the potential for data centers that are demanding that much. The province and AESO are watching developments closely. They've told these centers to bring their own power to feed into the grid. That means building their own infrastructure. They hope that will avoid these centers demanding more from Alberta's grid than it can supply. But once connected to the grid, each center has three years to get those generators up and running, pulling from current grid resources until then. See a lift in prices over those three years. But eventually the new generation should come on and mitigate those impacts. It won't be entirely mitigated for several reasons. We'll come back to those reasons. But first, the minister says the system is in good shape to handle the three-year gap. We actually have a surplus and with that we have underutilized. Power generation, he says, the bring your own power initiative will eventually keep building up that surplus. And this model will make data centers major players on the grid. Sigurdsson expects that could help lower transmission and distribution charges for everyone. But this analyst says Alberta will also need to beef up its reserves. We need resources that can respond quickly. We all pay for those. Back to why price jumps may not be entirely mitigated. Natural gas is a big one. AESO wants it to have a major role in data center power generation, and that increase in demand could raise electricity rates for everyone. AESO says it wants natural gas because power must be reliable and predictable, but the main thing these researchers agree on? Not including renewables limits our options. They say different power sources make our grid more flexible, keeping prices down and helping reliability. Another potential impact on the grid? Unpredictability. When supply gets stressed, users are prioritized different ways. Data centers are pretty low down, meaning when there's strain, they're forced to use fewer resources. But day-to-day, they can use as much or as little of their approved capacity as they want. You know, we don't need to tell the system operator when we're putting the kettle on. That lack of. Transparency for better, or lack of visibility maybe is a better term, that the system operator has and into this sort of single site really kind of makes it harder for them to manage. And keep in mind all of the rules around data centers are still in development. What we're seeing right now is one of the most disruptive forces to ever enter the electricity sector in a context where those rules aren't quite prepared. Wright calls the push for data centers in experimental mode. But the province says its approach is cautious and meticulous. We looked at all the other jurisdictions, many of the other issues that have happened in relation to data center investments and what it did to the grid. He says more legislation is coming this fall. It's expected to help protect the grid and power prices. And ASO is continuing to work on its own rules for connections to the grid. Those are also expected in the coming months. Policy is changing at the federal level, too. In its most recent budget, Ottawa says it expects cross-country grid demand to double by 2050. It pledged $50 billion to increase capacity, and the feds are looking at new technologies to help meet the growing needs from these data centres. What this all means is Albertans need more time to know the exact impacts. Rules and regulations, and just how many centers get approved, all play a part. Chelsea Mutter, CBC News, Calgary.