Canada is “closely monitoring” a new warning about the strain on North American electricity grids driven by artificial intelligence data centres, Natural Resources Canada says.
This comes after the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) – an electricity watchdog for Canada, the U.S. and Mexico – issued an alert warning this week that data centres are causing strain on North America’s electricity grids.
NERC issued a Level 3 alert, which is the agency’s highest alert rating, on Monday, warning that electricity grids “did not have sufficient processes, procedures, or methods to address risks associated with computational loads.”
“Examples of this load include artificial intelligence training, cryptocurrency mining, and traditional data center uses,” the alert said.
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A spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada told Global News the country’s electricity grids were also facing pressure from data centres.
“Canada is closely monitoring the recent alert from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Canada is also seeing rising electricity demand driven by data centres, electrification, and economic growth in certain regions,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
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Canada’s electricity grid “remains reliable overall,” the spokesperson said, but added, “these pressures are real and are being managed through planning and investment by provinces, utilities, and system operators.”
“Challenges are not uniform across the country – they tend to be regional and tied to where demand is growing fastest,” the statement said.
NRCAN added that Canada’s diversity of power supply, coming from hydroelectricity, nuclear, natural gas and renewables, makes Canada “well positioned to respond” to the pressures, the spokesperson said.
The federal government will soon release a discussion paper “seeking input on how it can work with provinces and territories, Indigenous partners, and other stakeholders to strengthen efforts to connect, modernise and expand the grid.”
AI data centers should be forced to build a dedicated power supply before even breaking ground. If my costs go up, I just might have to retaliate and make their costs rise as well. Fafo
This was known over 2 decades ago when Site C was announced. But alas we hindered and postured to where we are today. Just like when our LNG was coveted, we also blustered about that too and look where we are. Canada can talk a good game but when it comes to game time, we roll over and default. Elbows up!!
@Brian. Finland has over 200 hydro power plants. I looked it up.
In Alberta, there are hoses to every creek and river. For fracking. They are even draining small town waste ponds for it.
Now, they have approved a gas powered power station near Leedale. A place where the water they will using for cooling comes either from a small creek (Medicine creek) or the auquafer. Medicine Creek has a wildlife refuge.
The argricultural community is already water stressed and has had little warning or say in the approval process. There are data centers planned for down the road.
I see the green scam is falling by the wayside, good.
Also, don’t forget to mention all the coal fired energy we import, especially here in BC. It’s especially good for all the Teslas driving around.
Nobody actually cares what the indigenous think. FI or FO. They’re all drunk morons.
What a bunch of hypocrites. One day fossil fuels and nuclear are demonized and the next they are exalted. What a bunch of turncoats.
This is an interesting article, but it failed to mention EV charging stations, (electrification?) which also use a lot of energy. I firmly believe Canada should be investing more in modular nuclear power. Finland as approximately 5 million people and 8 nuclear power plants. As far as I know Finland doesn’t use any hydro nor natural gas power plants. You could look it up.