O’Leary Ventures Chair Kevin O’Leary said he would be co-operating with the Municipal District of Greenview to develop the world’s largest artificial intelligence data centre industrial park called Wonder Valley in the Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG) near Grande Prairie, AB. O’Leary Ventures confirmed it would be working with the Municipal District of Greenview to develop a partnership to build an off-grid natural gas and geothermal power infrastructure facility to support the largest artificial intelligence data centre industrial park in the world. At the moment, it said the GIG has signed a letter of intent with it for the purchase and development of thousands of acres of land within and to the south of it. “My joint venture team led by Paul Palandjian, CEO, O’Leary Ventures and Carl Agren, CEO, HPC and AI Data Centres, has sourced what we believe is the most compelling site in all North America to generate and offer 7.5 gigawatts of low-cost power to hyperscalers over the next five to 10 years,” said O’Leary in a Monday press release.“Given existing permits, proximity to stranded sources of natural gas, pipeline infrastructure, water and a fiber optic network within just a few kilometers of the Greenview Industrial Gateway, we will be in the ground and up and running sooner than any scale project of its kind.”While Wonder Valley will be rolled out in multiple phases, O’Leary Ventures said it marks the creation of an new industry sector for the region and Canada. It said its scope and scale will provide a massive influx of job opportunities during construction and beyond, bringing long-term employment and driving economic growth.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said this was great news for Alberta. “Our efforts to attract investment, grow our technology and innovation sector and leverage our natural and human resources are being noticed,” said Smith.“I'm excited to watch this project unfold in the months and years to come.” Greenview Reeve Tyler Olsen said this “is more than just an investment in land; it's an investment in the future of innovation and economic expansion for Canada.”“We're excited to take this step forward, creating lasting benefits not only for our Municipality but for the surrounding communities and the country as a whole,” said Olsen. O’Leary said this will engineer and build a redundant power solution that meets the modern AI compute reliability standards. “The first phase of 1.4 gigawatts will be approximately US$2 billion with subsequent annual roll out of redundant power in 1 gigawatt increments,” he said. “The total investment over the lifetime of the project will be over $70 billion when considering the infrastructure, power, data centres, and ancillary structures.”O’Leary Ventures pointed out Wonder Valley is expected to attract attention from global investors and industry leaders, setting a new benchmark for large-scale data infrastructure projects worldwide. Beyond jobs and financial benefits, it promised to establish Alberta and Canada as world leaders and as a center of excellence in this emerging industry.O’Leary said the GIG's ideal cold weather climate, a highly-skilled labor force, Alberta's pro-business policies, and attractive tax regime make the GIG the perfect site for Wonder Valley. Moreover, he said O’Leary Ventures wants to deliver transformative economic impact and the lowest possible carbon emissions afforded to it by the quality of gas in the area, its efficient design and the potential to add geothermal power. Together, O’Leary said these factors “create a blueprint for sustainability and success that can be recognized worldwide.” “This is the Greenview Model,” he said. The Alberta government launched a strategy to position the province as North America’s premier destination for AI data centre investment on Wednesday, leveraging its natural resources, innovative power industry, and cold climate..Alberta unveils strategy to attract AI data centres, drive economic growth .This strategy focuses on three key pillars — power capacity, sustainable cooling, and economic diversification. These priorities aim to make Alberta a competitive player in the expanding global AI sector, which is anticipated to exceed $820 billion in market size by 2030.“Artificial intelligence is behind all the newest technologies we rely on to make our lives better, simpler, safer,” said Smith.
