74
Alberta government publishes pro data centre propaganda (rabble.ca)
submitted 2 weeks ago* by to c/canada@lemmy.ca
49 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

Thousand acre ai compute facilities offer significant drawbacks and no tangible benefits to Alberta.

Personally I’d like to see all datacenters require 100% renewable power going forward, but that’s not realistically happening.

Do not expect that to ever happen. Meta's facility will use 1GW of power. Right now as I write this, Alberta is generating a total of 10GW. There are something like 25GW of proposed data centre projects in the queue for the province. Renewables cannot and will not be used for facilities that use this much power. It's impossible.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -1 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Where the fuck did you get your numbers? Alberta has almost 25 GW of installed capacity right now, and peak demand of something in the neighborhood of 13-14 GW

    In 2024, they installed about 1.4GW of Solar and Wind alone.

    https://ippsa.com/industry

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    I said 10GW generation not capacity, pay attention.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    How does that invalidate the fact that there is 10-12 GW of spare capacity above peak demand already built?

    Or that there was 1.4GW of capacity installed in 2024 that could be used to power this kind of data center?

    How are your arguments in any way actual arguments against building this?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    You're aware that the wind isn't always blowing, and the sun isn't always shining, right?

    It's critical to understand the difference between MC and TNG. You should learn about them before going off on people. It's clear you don't understand how the energy grid works.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    I can throw acronyms around too.

    LCOS for batteries at this point is low enough to make even "the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing" renewables viable.

    If renewables are so poor a choice for power, why are they being built in such massive quantities even in places that hate renewables?

    Maybe if you understood how the world worked better, you wouldn't get so focused on arguing about what used to be possible and instead focus on what is possible now.

    Instead, you're arguing to not build datacenters in Alberta and instead have them in the US because.... renewables aren't always available?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    You're in this thread hoping that paradigm shifts in battery tech, AB building refineries, and using what you incorrectly assumed is 10GW of unused headroom in the power grid, all for ai compute facilities.

    I'm not sure why you're gunning so hard for ai compute facilities to be built in Alberta specifically, and your unsophisticated understanding of the way energy works makes it hard to take your position seriously.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    What do you mean paradigm shift? BC is literally building 5 grid-scale batteries right now. This isn't future tech, it's something that can be purchased and installed today.

    I'm arguing for them in Alberta for the same reason Alberta is arguing for pipelines to be built through BC. They're going to be built somewhere, may as well get the benefits of having them here.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago* (1 child)

    They’re going to be built somewhere

    This is also an incorrect assumption, and a premise that people and municipalities all over North America are rejecting. What do you make of that?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago* (1 child)

    500 megawatts across an entire province to be built out over the course of a few years.

    I can't understand where your optimism comes from.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

    A) "across an entire province" is only 5 locations B) The currently largest active grid scale battery is 3.2GWh, in California. There are projects in planning or under construction to reach up to 40GWh. Again, this is solved tech that you can buy and build today. If you're going to drop a few billion on datacenters, there's not really anything stopping you from dropping a few billion more on solar/wind and batteries. Microsoft is dropping massive money on a Nuclear fusion plant in Washington state that's already under construction.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

    Wrong. Potentia-Viridi BESS isn't built yet. Why are you posting things in this thread that are factually incorrect?

    Alberta has 11 of these storage systems too, which I suppose you'd bring up if you knew anything. It's great that battery storage exists but imagining that it will be able to supply ai compute facilities is naive.

    Nuclear fusion plant in Washington

    Oh sorry I didn't know nuclear fusion was solved tech.

    My friend, you're dreaming. You're way out over your skis talking about these things.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •