Alberta

Binding law

s.2 A large data centre is 75 MW or more, and the line can move down

At or above 75 MW of maximum demand a project is a "large data centre". That figure is a default rather than a floor: s.2(2) lets AESO set a lower threshold on reliability or adequacy grounds, so sizing just under it is not a durable way out of the regime.

s.6 Tethered requests are processed first

AESO must prioritise processing a request from a tethered data centre over one from a large data centre that is not tethered. This is the regulation's actual operating mechanism: untethered load is deprioritised, not prohibited.

s.5 Being tethered means bringing incremental generation

AESO may designate a data centre tethered to generating units capable of supplying the transmission system at a rate at least equal to its maximum demand. The supply offsets into the common pool rather than being wired privately to the load, but it must be incremental: a proposed unit must be new, and an existing unit qualifies only where its service is being modified upward or it has been declared under the relevant provisions.

s.7 Financing and water licences can gate service

AESO may set criteria covering site control, municipal zoning approvals, financing and the issuance of permits or water licences. Meeting them is a condition of service being provided.

s.9(5) Bridged supply runs three years at the outside

Where AESO grants bridged service, grid energy taken before the tethered generation runs, it may run for a maximum of three years from when it is first provided. Bridging is discretionary throughout: s.9(1) says "may provide", and s.9(2) gates it on AUC approval of the tethered units.

s.10 Curtailment falls on data centres first, in two stages

On a determination of inadequate supply, bridged data centres reduce demand before all other market participants. Separately, where mandatory load shedding is required, every large data centre reduces before the rest of the market. The two limbs have different triggers and a non-bridged site is exposed only to the second.

s.3 Adjacent sites can be treated as one, if they are related

AESO may aggregate two or more data centres into one where they are physically or operationally integrated and on the same or adjacent parcels, AND a common person or affiliate is receiving or requesting service for them. Both limbs are required, so unrelated neighbours are not captured.

s.12 The regime is reviewed by 2030 and expires in 2035

The regulation must be reviewed on or before 31 May 2030 and expires on 31 May 2035. Anything underwritten against it should be underwritten against that clock.

Proposed, not yet law

AESO published the Phase 2A design on 26 June 2026. Its update of 8 September 2026 says the process documents and application intake, earlier expected in August, will be posted and open this fall. No date is given. These mechanics are a proposal and are marked as such because most summaries report them as settled (Osler):

• An intake window of six weeks. AESO’s proposal plans intakes roughly every nine months, run in parallel with cluster studies. No date for a second intake is published.
• A commitment payment of C$15,000 per MW of requested service, invoiced at intake close and proposed as potentially refundable.
• A system-wide bridging pool of 1,600 MW, reassessed at each intake.
• Tethered generation limited to gas-fired plant in the first cycle, described as provisional and reviewable.