AI, data centre companies will have to compete for electricity in B.C.
CBC
Data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) companies in B.C. will have to compete for electricity from B.C. Hydro under new provincial legislation.
The competitive bid process, which launched Friday, will allow B.C. Hydro to manage the grid appropriately when it comes to the “fast growing high-load sectors” including AI and data centres, according to Energy Minister Adrian Dix at a news conference Friday.
Charlotte Mitha, B.C. Hydro’s president and CEO, said that without a structured process, the power utility could “easily be overwhelmed” by power-intensive requests from AI and data centres.
“If we had to serve every request exactly as it arrives, affordability, reliability, they could be affected for customers that we serve every day in B.C.”
The first tranche of projects will compete for 400 megawatts of electricity over a two-year period.
Dix said that number wouldn’t limit the industry, calling it “a lot of electricity” — about 35 per cent of the power from the Site C dam.
“A first-come first-serve system, if you’re not able to provide [for it], if you’re not doing it in a planned way, that’s just chaos. That doesn’t bring investment.”
Dix said bids will be assessed on criteria, including data sovereignty, environmental benefits, First Nations participation and price, to ensure “power is directed to industries that provide the greatest benefit.”
He noted Canadian companies would generally have an advantage in the process.
Some Canadians have expressed concerns about the potential negative effect data centres have on the water supply, as many of the facilities need cooling systems.
B.C.’s energy ministry told CBC News that projects utilizing heat recovery, water-use and other energy efficiencies will be favoured in the competitive process.
Traditional sectors including mining, LNG, forestry and manufacturing will remain under existing processes and will not have to bid, according to Dix.
Certain projects that are already advanced will be grandfathered in under the previous rules, he added.
The B.C. Conservative Party said in a news release that the government is "rationing" electricity and picking "winners and losers" through its selection process.
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