Another AI Data Centre is proposed for our area. This time it is even closer — just four kilometres north and west of Westpark, inside Edmonton city limits.

Walton Global Investments Ltd. is asking Edmonton City Council to change the Edmonton Energy and Technology Park Area Structure Plan to allow data centres and associated power generation facilities to be built in the Medium Industrial precinct.

Walton Global is also asking to increase the size of the Medium Industrial Precinct by reducing the Petrochemical Precinct by about 253 hectares (four quarter sections).

This would bring the total size of the Medium Industrial Precinct to 2,937 hectares.

“The amendment will facilitate the development of the first stage of a comprehensive Edmonton Data Center Campus,” Stantec Consulting states in its submission to Edmonton City Council on behalf of Walton Global. “A master-planned, hyperscale-ready digital infrastructure project within the City of Edmonton, designed to become one of the largest data center and compute-oriented industrial districts in North America.”

The size and other details of the potential Walton Global data centre campus has not been specified.

Edmonton officials are accepting feedback on this zoning change until Oct. 25. Edmonton City Council will then debate the proposal.

Meta has a large AI data centre already under construction next to Highway 643 between Ranger Road 222 and 223. This $13 billion project covers just over 700 hectares and includes a 952 KW natural gas power plant.

Along with the environmental impact, Alberta's new boom in data centre construction is expected to increase the cost of electricity and natural gas.