Canada Partners with Telus to Build New AI Data Centres in Vancouver and Kamloops

Vancouver and Kamloops will be home to a new data centre cluster under a planned partnership between the federal government and Telus. AI Minister Evan Solomon spoke in Vancouver on Monday about the project, which would expand Canada's sovereign compute capacity while helping domestic commercial and academic interests compete in the global AI economy.

The proposal involves expanding Telus's existing Kamloops facility and constructing two new data centres in Vancouver through Ottawa's Enabling large-scale sovereign AI data centres initiative.

"We are taking concrete action to build sovereign AI capacity here in Canada, so Canadian innovators, researchers and businesses have access to the compute they need, while keeping Canadian data, intellectual property and economic advantage on Canadian soil," Solomon said.

Telus says the Kamloops project and the first Vancouver project at the former Hootsuite headquarters in Mount Pleasant will come online later this year. A second facility at 150 West Georgia Street is planned for 2029.

The facilities will run on 98 per cent clean hydro power and recycle enough waste energy to heat 150,000 homes. The projects will use 90 per cent less water than a traditional data centre.

Place stadium. C. government rolled out its own AI data centre power policy in January. The policy requires companies to compete for a tranche of electricity capped at 400 megawatts for the next two years and gives preference for projects that provide data sovereignty, environmental benefits and First Nations participation.

The City of Vancouver is throwing its support behind the proposal. " Plans to build a new facility in Nanaimo have sparked local pushback. C. Green Party Leader Emily Lowan accused lawmakers of using a "build-first regulate-later model" and wants a moratorium on new data centres in the province until stronger regulation and environmental policies are in place.

One 2023 study estimated that generating between 10 and 50 medium-sized responses with AI chatbot ChatGPT used half a litre of water. A separate study by the International Energy Agency estimated data centres used 140 billion litres of water globally just for cooling in 2023. Cbc reported on the project details, environmental claims and criticism from Lowan.

Lowan said she was incredibly skeptical of Telus's environmental claims because projects are fast-tracked without comprehensive environmental impact studies. She noted local watershed groups in Kamloops are sounding the alarm on the acute drain during the worst of the province's drought cycle and extreme heat.