Mark Zuckerberg's 'Little House in Canada' is a 1 GW Data Center Dedicated to Artificial Intelligence
Meta has announced the start of construction on a new 1 GW data center in Sturgeon County, Alberta. This is the company's first facility in Canada and the thirty-third globally, specifically designed to support AI-related workloads that power the group's services and products, from social media platforms to wearable devices.
According to Meta, the total investment exceeds 13 billion Canadian dollars, and at peak construction, it will require the contribution of over 3,000 workers. Once completed, the site will provide more than 300 permanent jobs for operational management.
The initiative also includes about 60 million Canadian dollars allocated for the improvement of local infrastructure. The interventions will mainly focus on the road and water networks in Sturgeon County, alongside dedicated funding programs for non-profit organizations in the area through the Data Center Community Action Grants, an initiative that Meta has already implemented in other regions where it operates.
One of the most sensitive aspects of projects of this magnitude concerns the impact on the electrical grid. To address concerns raised in recent years about the high energy demand of data centers for artificial intelligence, Meta states that it will fully cover the costs of the energy consumed by the facility and will finance the construction of new electricity generation and transmission infrastructure.
The company has also announced that it planned the project in collaboration with Greenlight Limited Partnership, AltaLink, Capital Power, and the Alberta Electric System Operator, aiming to ensure the availability of the necessary capacity before the site goes online. The company further asserts that, as with all its data centers, electricity consumption will be offset through the use of 100% energy from renewable sources.
Another frequently associated topic with large data centers is water consumption. To mitigate this aspect, Meta has planned a closed-loop liquid cooling system combined with dry cooling. According to the company, this configuration eliminates operational water consumption for cooling the infrastructure: water will be used exclusively for civil services, fire-fighting systems, and equipment maintenance.
The company also reminds that it aims to become "water positive" by 2030, returning more water globally than it consumes in areas where it directly manages its facilities. For the new Canadian site, Meta will also fully cover the costs related to water services and wastewater treatment, publishing annual data on energy consumption and water withdrawals as part of its sustainability reports.