Alberta's Wonder Valley artificial intelligence (AI) data centre and nine-gigawatt power plant will be "one of the largest single-site heat sources on the planet" when fully operational, warns a Utah State University physicist commissioned to assess the project.

"These are not data centres in any familiar sense of the term," wrote [pdf] Dr. Robert Davies, a physicist and complex systems scientist, in an assessment for the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. "From here on, I'll refer to these energy-and-heat behemoths-massive compute fused with massive power generation-as Gigascale AI Smelters, smelting data and material strip-mined from people and planet."

At a realistic generation efficiency for a gas plant, Davies said supplying 9 GW of electricity would mean "burning fuel at a continuous rate on the order of 16 to 18 GW, day and night, year-round."

"Essentially the entire fuel burn ends up as heat released at the site, because the electricity is consumed onsite and degrades, in full, to heat."

The project is planned for approximately 65 square kilometres owned by the Municipal District of Greenview, including Crown land transferred to them in a series of purchase agreements. A plot that size would fit about 130 West Edmonton Malls.

"The data centre won't be introducing a single novel disturbance into intact boreal forest," he wrote. "Rather it will be layering an enormous new thermal, acoustic, air-emissions, and water demand on top of an environment already fragmented by resource extraction-across territory in which the Cree Nation exercises Treaty and harvesting rights."

Because numerous companies are already extracting resources from the area, creating "dense access networks through the surrounding forest," Davies said cumulative effects studies should be done and a "whole systems analysis" is needed.

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Wonder Valley is proposed in a region struggling with drought conditions, about 460 kilometres north of Edmonton, near Grande Prairie, Alberta, sitting on one of the world's largest gas deposits, the Montney Formation.

"Everything is connected: feedback loops in complex systems like this mean effects of one kind generate other effects of other kinds," Davies wrote.

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation called for a federal impact assessment of Wonder Valley, which is planned on its territory and Treaty 8. The federal Impact Assessment Agency did not respond to The Energy Mix's request for comment.

Alberta's Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA) department gave the project an exemption from an environmental impact assessment, a process that would have studied cumulative impacts. The Alberta government recently signed an agreement with the federal government to allow the province to take more of a lead on environmental assessments, though it was overwhelmingly opposed by Indigenous groups.

"This is a massive project with significant emissions, water use and, most alarming, creates a 'heat island' [effect] in an area already ravaged by wildfire, drought, and climate change," said [Facebook] Chief Sheldon Sunshine.

AEPA Minister Grant Hunter did not immediately respond to The Mix's questions about regulations around data centres and how cumulative effects of the project would be studied.

Nathan Ip, NDP shadow minister for Technology and Innovation, told The Mix that Alberta doesn't have specific regulations for AI data centres, "which is precisely the problem."

"Data centres, like all major projects, will have lasting effects on nearby communities, which is why we need clear regulations, strong safeguards, and proper oversight in place," said Ip.

He added that growth must be done responsibly "due to the impacts on water use, energy demand, heat, and noise that aren't fully addressed by existing industrial regulations."

The Sturgeon Lake report was released the same day that O'Leary Digital held its first community open house in Grovedale, a small hamlet near Wonder Valley.

The company did not reply to The Mix's question about whether it would apply for a federal environmental impact assessment.

Dozens attended the open house to ask questions of O'Leary CEO Paul Palandjian and find out more about the project.

Casey Klein, a mother and student who drove from Grande Prairie with her six-year-old son to attend the event, told The Mix "the open house really didn't settle any of my concerns, it deepened them, if anything."

She found herself "fighting through noise and fragments of information to try and understand a project that is going to change this region for decades throughout generations."

"The open house itself felt like a warning because it was crowded, it was loud, it was hard to navigate, and hard to hear people," Klein said, pausing before finding the correct word to describe the event.

"Disrespectful, that's it."

Ret Louise, another Grande Prairie resident, posted her concerns on Facebook after attending the open house, asking "why should anyone trust what Kevin O'Leary says?" Louise added that ordinary Albertans are left bearing the risks of billionaires granted approvals without Indigenous consultation.

She emphasized the need to protect water resources and air quality, mitigate impacts to wildlife, and align major projects with the province's long-term interests. Sturgeon Lake is preparing to argue in court that the Crown failed to uphold its duty to consult with the First Nation in granting a water licence for Wonder Valley. O'Leary is challenging the Nation's assertion the municipality had a duty to consult.

Canada's National Observer reports that documents show O'Leary's company signed a land sale contract with Greenview that allows them to back out from the project if the local government can't secure the necessary water licences.

Source: The Energy Mix