Pembina approves C$4.6bn Greenlight gas plant

Pembina Pipeline Corp. reached a positive final investment decision on the C$4.6 billion Greenlight Electricity Centre, a 932-MW natural gas power plant in Sturgeon County, Alberta. The plant will deliver power to Meta’s 1-gigawatt Sturgeon County data center under a long-term tolling agreement and is expected to consume about 150 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. Power deliveries under the tolling agreement are scheduled to begin in 2030.

Pembina developed the project with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor Asset Management. The facility will use behind-the-meter generation to serve the hyperscale data center, a framework supported by the provincial government to limit strain on the local utility grid.

The plant’s estimated 150 MMcf/d gas demand creates a long-term outlet for Western Canadian natural gas producers and will factor into regional supply and midstream capacity planning. The contracted arrangement links a major technology customer to local fuel flows and infrastructure plans.

The Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index reported a yield of 4.5% as of July 8. Exchange-traded products tied to that index include the Alerian Energy Infrastructure ETF (ENFR) and the ALPS Alerian Energy Infrastructure Portfolio (ALEFX), both of which include U.S. and Canadian midstream companies, including Pembina. VettaFi LLC supplies the index and receives an index licensing fee related to those products.

The Greenlight Electricity Centre is one of the larger recent gas-fired generation investments in Western Canada. Its behind-the-meter design is intended to keep the added load off the public grid while creating contracted gas demand for the plant’s operating life.