TransAlta Corporation has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Brookfield Asset Management to advance a large-scale data centre development in Alberta.
Under the non-binding agreement, TransAlta will serve as the exclusive site and power provider for the project at its Keephills facility in Parkland County, west of Edmonton. The initial phase includes a long-term power purchase agreement of approximately 230 megawatts, with the potential to scale up to 1 gigawatt of total data-centre load over time.
“The Keephills site provides a strategic platform that leverages TransAlta’s large zoned land position, existing transmission, natural gas and water infrastructure, as well as on-site generation to support long-term project scale,” said John Kousinioris, President and Chief Executive Officer of TransAlta.
“We are very pleased to be working with CPP Investments and Brookfield and to serve as the exclusive site and power provider for this project. As experienced, global infrastructure investors, CPP Investments and Brookfield have the capability to deliver projects of this size and complexity. We look forward to working together to advance digital infrastructure capacity and unlock future investment in Alberta.”
The Keephills site’s combination of generation assets, grid connectivity and industrial zoning positions it as a natural fit for energy-intensive digital infrastructure, particularly as artificial intelligence and hyperscale cloud demand accelerates.
Alberta has been actively courting large-scale data centre investment as part of its broader economic diversification strategy, though grid operators have capped new large-load connections to preserve system reliability through 2028.
If finalized, the agreement would anchor one of the province’s larger powered data centre developments and further position Alberta as a competitive jurisdiction for energy-backed AI and cloud infrastructure.
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