Sturgeon County Town Hall Concludes Review on Rural Data Center Grid Impacts

MORINVILLE, AB — Alberta Minister of Utilities and Technology Nathan Neudorf joined Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw Thursday night for the second in a series of municipal town hall forums examining the infrastructure and electrical grid impacts of proposed hyperscale artificial intelligence data centers in the Alberta Industrial Heartland.

Grid Capacity, Cooling Water, and Municipal Taxation

The community forum drew over 300 rural landowners and local business owners to discuss commercial zoning applications for two proposed multi-gigawatt computing campuses. County residents raised detailed questions regarding potential impacts on regional groundwater aquifers, local transmission line congestion, and nighttime acoustic emissions from high-capacity industrial cooling fans.

Minister Neudorf reassured attendees that provincial grid rules enforced through the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) mandate that large data facilities contract dedicated behind-the-meter natural gas power generation or battery storage to prevent displacing residential grid power.

Municipal Tax Base and Economic Diversification

Sturgeon County council members highlighted that hyperscale data campuses could generate over $35 million annually in municipal linear tax revenue, funding rural road paving, emergency response services, and local property tax relief.

Tech development consortia committed to utilizing closed-loop evaporative cooling systems to minimize municipal water withdrawal.

Final Council Public Hearing Date

Sturgeon County Council will hold formal statutory public hearings on the land-use zoning amendments on October 13, 2026.