Wilmot Township could host future AI data centre

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Is Wilmot being considered for a new AI data centre?

Wilmot Township could host future AI data centre

Wilmot Township is under consideration as the future home for a multi-billion dollar AI data centre.

In an email to CTV News of Wednesday, Martin Bouchard, chief executive officer and co-founder of QScale, confirmed the company is ‘evaluating several expansion opportunities in Ontario.’

QScale is a company based out of Lévis, Quebec that develops AI data centres.

Although Bouchard did not specifically narrow down the areas currently being assessed, when asked if Wilmot and other parts of Waterloo Region were possible contenders for the project he responded, “… it’s true that Wilmot is part of many regions we are considering.”

The news comes as controversy continues to surround a land assembly project in the Bleams Road and Nafzinger Line area of Wilmot. In March 2024, farmers living the area discovered the Region of Waterloo was looking to buy 770 acres of land across six different farm properties to put together ‘a shovel-ready site’ for future large-scale development. Since then, there have been multiple protests against the idea, with some advocates worried about what the loss of viable farmland could mean for the community.

In May of this year, the region said 550 acres had been secured as part of the effort. That much land is considered to be a ‘mega-site’ under provincial guidelines.

The region has repeatedly insisted the land parcel is not being put together with any specific development in mind.

“The region is continually in conversation with industry leaders and various levels of government about possible future investment,” the Region of Waterloo said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “Our efforts now will put the Region in a stronger position to attract a large investment in the future. Any future investment would be subject to further approvals before it could proceed.”

QScale never mentioned the land assembly project specifically.

Location considerations

As speculation flies, some people don’t believe Wilmot would be an ideal location, especially the land assembly parcel.

“This is the most absurd location one can think of for a data centre,” Kevin Thomason, an advocate with Fight for Farmland, said. “First of all, data centres don’t need a lot of land. The average data centre, even a larger data centre, uses between 20 and 40 acres.”

An associate professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University Waterloo said data centres can vary in size.

“They tend to be relatively large to be justifying the infrastructure,” John Straube said. “Those are the Amazons and the Microsofts of the world. They tend to be relatively large. You could have one in your garage, but it wouldn’t be economically sensible.”

“Many of them are not that big that have already been built,” Straube continued. “There is a trend to, in some areas, be bigger, but it really would be up to the understanding of the company, what they think the marketplace is as to whether they need a 10 acre or a 50 acre site.”

Another major factor in setting up a data centre is the power draw.

“Starting at hundreds of kilowatts and going into the hundreds of megawatts,” explained Straube. “It is thousands of houses, would be a way to coordinate in your brain what we’re talking about. It’s not the power of 100 houses, it’s not the power used by all of St. Clements. It’s many more times that.”