AI compute is ‘largely a rural story’

Alberta’s push to attract massive data-centre investment is reshaping rural landscapes, where the physical footprint of AI compute is most visible — and most costly, according to analysis in The Hub. The facilities are “industrial cities made entirely of servers,” requiring huge amounts of electricity and, in some cases, “more than 11 million litres of water per day.” 

As Falice Chin put it, “So despite all the talk around ‘compute,’ this is largely a rural story.”

Experts warn the boom risks worsening the province’s entrenched urban-rural divide. Rural regions are absorbing land, water and grid impacts even as benefits concentrate in Calgary and Edmonton. “Rural municipalities are in decline,” said Colin Knoll, who argues Alberta lacks “a unified strategy that balances all the perspectives.”

Regulatory pressure is mounting as power and water constraints grow; developers outside the provincial queue must now “bring their own power,” and water concerns have already killed projects, including one in Rocky View County. Meanwhile, long-term job creation is limited. “It is almost like a storage facility… You have one or two people maybe maintaining it,” said PwC’s Danielle Gifford.

Still, proponents cite potential upsides: property-tax revenue, natural-gas demand, and long-needed rural infrastructure. Indigenous communities are asserting rights but also pursuing opportunities, as seen in the Mihta Askiy project, where Woodland Cree First Nation is a majority partner.

With Alberta rewriting its Water Act and drawing on its resource-development experience, observers say the province must ensure rural and Indigenous communities share in the rewards. As environmental lawyer Graham Reeder said, “Sometimes it’s frustrating to see a new industry come in and think they can avoid learning those lessons.”