Why celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary is proposing a massive AI data centre in northern Alberta

Celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary says he is planning to bankroll and build what he says will be the world's largest artificial intelligence data centre.

The proposal — named Wonder Valley — is slated to be built in the District of Greenview, near Grande Prairie, Alta. 

The tech hub, which will include buildings that store and process digital information, will come with a total investment over the lifetime of the project of more than $70 billion, a news release said. 

The Municipal District of Greenview has agreed to partner with O'Leary Ventures — a company described "as a generalist venture capital investment platform" — by building the "off-grid natural gas and geothermal" power capacity that will be needed to enable the phased project to work.

The district and O'Leary Ventures signed a letter of intent for the purchase and development of thousands of acres of land within the Greenview Industrial Gateway. 

"I think people should be very skeptical and they should just watch, because we'll be very transparent as we develop this," Kevin O'Leary told CBC News said in an interview Tuesday. 

"We have many mountains to climb here, but we're in a competition … We have to convince the world that Alberta's the best place to put your data centre for a lot of reasons. And if you can find something better? Show it to me."

WATCH | Why northern Alberta? Kevin O'Leary talks location: 

Why Kevin O'Leary is pitching an AI data centre south of Grande Prairie

10 days ago

Duration 1:52

An artificial intelligence data centre is proposed for the Municipal District of Greenview, south of Grande Prairie, Alta. It's a partnership between the MD and Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary. As Travis McEwan reports, the 58-building project would run off grid on natural gas and geothermal infrastructure.

O'Leary said the site is perfect because there's a city nearby, and the physical space to build all the necessary infrastructure. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a news release Monday that the project is "fantastic news."

"Our efforts to attract investment, grow our technology and innovation sector, and leverage our natural and human resources are being noticed. I'm excited to watch this project unfold in the months and years to come," she said.

The first phase of the project is set to cost $2 billion US and produce 1.4 gigawatt of power. Wonder Valley will then roll out power in one gigawatt increments. 

Tyler Olsen, the reeve of the Municipal District of Greenview, said in an interview on Wednesday that they've been preparing for a project like this. 

"Over the past three to four years we've built a road into this area, we've acquired the land from the province, we've started water licensing to get the water there," Olsen said in an interview on CBC's Edmonton AM.

LISTEN | Greenview's reeve talks about massive data centre project: 

Edmonton AM7:09Plans for a massive data centre in northern Alberta revealed

Celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary is planning to build what he says will be the world's largest artificial intelligence data centre in northern Alberta. Tyler Olsen is reeve of the Municipal District of Greenview where the project is slated to be built.

Olsen echoed O'Leary in saying that the location is great. He said they have an abundance of natural gas and a massive drilling program, as well as cool temperatures. 

That's important, because these centres generate a lot of heat, Olsen said. Water is often used for cooling, and Olsen said the cool temperatures will mean that less water will be needed.