Welcome to this week's edition of IPPSA Intelligence! |
Upcoming IPPSA Event IPPSA Webinar: Fast Frequency Response Plus (FFR+)
Wednesday, August 26, 2026 @ 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | |
|
|
Alberta Electric System Operator |
AESO Opens Second Comment Round on Milestone 3 Reliability Standards; LMP Session Scheduled for September Market & Regulation The AESO posted responses to stakeholder comments on the proposed Milestone 3 Reliability Standards and opened a second written comment round with a September 11 deadline. On August 18 it also released an amended Information Document #2019-001 guiding proponents on ISO rule changes under Section 20.81 of the Electric Utilities Act. Coming up: an August 20 stakeholder session on the TRP Base Rate, September 4 feedback deadlines for TRP/ACP ISO Tariff Amendments and AIES Protection findings, and a September 14 hybrid LMP information session focused on security-constrained economic dispatch as the foundation for locational marginal pricing. |
O'Leary-Backed Wonder Valley Data Centre Proposal Draws Public Opposition Over Water, Grid Concerns Companies & Projects O'Leary Digital Ltd. is proposing Wonder Valley, a 7.5 GW data centre complex roughly 19 miles south of Grovedale in northwestern Alberta — a project that, if built, would represent an extraordinary load addition to the provincial grid. The company has revised its water draw from 24 million to under 6 million cubic metres annually, shifting to barge-based seasonal collection on the Smoky River. A public information session in Grovedale surfaced sharp opposition on water rights, wildlife, grid impacts, data privacy, and local economic benefit. The project remains contingent on permits and financing, with construction targeted as early as next year. |
AUC Denies Synapse Olds Application: 1,400 MW Plant Too Close to Homes, Developer May Reapply Generation & Infrastructure The Alberta Utilities Commission formally denied Synapse Real Estate Corp.'s application for a 1,400 MW natural gas-powered data centre in Olds, finding the site — directly across from residential homes — unsuitable and citing Synapse's failure to justify the location choice. The application was closed without prejudice, meaning Synapse can reapply. Minister Glubish described the outcome as proof the regulatory system works. For generators and developers watching Alberta's data centre queue, the decision establishes that proximity to residential areas is a hard constraint the AUC will enforce. |
Alberta's First Data Centre Town Hall Turns Hostile in Lacombe; 300–400 Residents Push Back on Glubish Generation & Infrastructure Roughly 300–400 residents filled the Lacombe Memorial Centre on August 20 for the first of three provincial town halls on AI data centres, and the reception was not warm — Minister Glubish was met with boos and heckling. Attendees raised concerns about water consumption, environmental pollution, privacy and surveillance, regulatory oversight, and the quality of local jobs on offer. Glubish pitched data centres as rural economic drivers and natural gas demand anchors. Two more sessions follow: a virtual town hall August 27 and an in-person event in Grande Prairie on September 11. |
Olds Resident Advocates for Siting Setbacks at Lacombe Town Hall After AUC Denies Synapse Application Market & Regulation Bek MacIntosh, who led community opposition to Synapse's proposed 1.4 GW natural gas data centre in Olds, spoke at the Lacombe town hall calling for formal setback regulations to protect residential areas from future industrial data centre proposals. More than 700 homes sat within 800 metres of the Synapse site before the AUC denied the application on August 17, finding the location unsuitable and closing the file without prejudice. MacIntosh's push for codified setbacks reflects a broader community appetite for clearer rules — a policy gap that, if left unaddressed, will generate friction for each subsequent data centre application that comes near a populated area. |
Site C — Now the John Horgan Dam — Needs ~$135/MWh to Break Even, Raising Affordability Questions Economic & Finance British Columbia's updated figures put Site C (renamed the John Horgan Dam) at $14.9 billion spent against a $16 billion budget with residual cost risks. At nearly $15 million per MW of capacity, it matches other large Canadian hydro builds on a cost-per-MW basis but looks expensive on energy output: with 100-year debt at 4%, $10/MWh cash costs, and a 53% capacity factor, full capital recovery requires roughly $135/MWh. Hydro-Quebec's contracted rate starts near $18/MWh next year and ramps to about $115/MWh by 2041 — still short of breakeven. |
Ontario to Build One of World's Largest Nuclear Plants in Port Hope; Community's Nuclear History Drives Pushback Nuclear The Ontario government announced earlier this year that Port Hope will host one of the world's largest nuclear power plants. While some residents support the economic activity, others — particularly those who lived through Port Hope's decades of contamination from early nuclear industry operations — are pushing back hard. The community has a long and contentious relationship with the nuclear sector, and that history is shaping local response to what provincial planners see as clean energy infrastructure. For Alberta, this is a marker of the political complexity that large nuclear buildouts tend to generate even in communities with prior industry exposure. |
Quebec–Newfoundland Churchill River Deal: $70B, 9,000 MW, and an October Election That Could Unravel It Generation & Infrastructure Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador announced a revised agreement to jointly develop Churchill River hydroelectric resources, backed by Ottawa with tax credits and loan guarantees exceeding $20 billion for Gull Island alone. The package envisions up to 9,000 MW from a mix of new hydro, wind, and transmission — including a 2,700 MW Gull Island station, a 1,275 MW Churchill Falls expansion at roughly $4 billion, and about $10 billion in transmission. Half the capacity depends on feasibility studies still years away. The entire arrangement hinges on Quebec's October 5 provincial election; a change in government could shelve the deal entirely. The scale of federal financial backing here sets a reference point for what Ottawa is willing to commit to interprovincial clean energy infrastructure. |
DOE Declares Energy Emergency as Heat Wave Pushes PJM Toward Record 166,304 MW Peak Demand Electricity The U.S. Department of Energy issued an Energy Emergency Alert directing PJM Interconnection — which serves roughly 65 million customers across Washington D.C. and parts of 13 states — to conserve power and curtail data centres and other non-essential loads. The alert runs from 11:59 p.m. Tuesday through 11:59 p.m. Friday. PJM forecast peak demand of 166,304 MW on Thursday, which would break the 2006 record. Heat indices were forecast as high as 113°F in several major cities, with minimal overnight cooling. The episode is a concrete example of what extreme heat combined with high data centre load looks like on a stressed grid — directly relevant to Alberta's own conversations about large industrial load growth and grid reliability margins. |
IPPSA's Mandate IPPSA's mission is to convene industry, providing information, resources, and a forum for knowledge sharing, and to create opportunities for dialogue, collaboration, and education. This newsletter is meant to inform members but not advocate for specific outcomes. We always appreciate your feedback at info@ippsa.com. |
|
