Projects / Black Bear
Black Bear
A fully-permitted 466 MW natural gas combined-cycle plant paired with approximately 2,500 acres of adjacent, Tier-compatible data center land — with a defined pathway to approximately 3 GW across the campus.
Phase I
466 MW
Target energization
Q3, 2028
All-in cash cost
~$24/MWh
Vetted Project Scale
~3 GW
OVERVIEW
Vertically integrated NGCC and data center campus at scale.
Black Bear pairs 466 MW of natural-gas combined-cycle generation with approximately 2,500 acres of adjacent land, permitted and engineered for Tier-compatible data center development. The site supports a defined pathway to approximately 3 GW — roughly 2 GW behind-the-meter and 1 GW grid-connected — across one or more campuses.
Black Bear sits squarely between Edmonton’s growing retail load, Grande Prairie’s industrial expansion, and the oil sands — the center of a transmission corridor that needs far more generation than it has. Power demand waiting to connect in the region outpaces new supply by roughly 30%, and Alberta’s grid operator assigned the site the lowest connection fee in the province (CAD $10K/MW) — its clearest signal that new dispatchable generation is wanted exactly here.
SPECIFICATIONS
Project specifications.
Generation
Phase I: 466 MW natural gas combined-cycle (NGCC) power plant; Defined pathway to ~3 GW across the site (~2 GW behind-the-meter + ~1 GW grid)
Campus
~2,500 acres of adjacent, Tier-compatible data center land
Location
Alberta, Canada. Sited in the AESO sub-region with the lowest interconnection fee in the province ($10K/MW)
Permits — Federal
Fully permitted at the federal level
Permits — Provincial
Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA), Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), noise and emissions — all in hand.
Indigenous Consultation
Indigenous consultation complete
Interconnection
AESO Cluster 3 interconnection application submitted early 2026
Tier Compatibility
Tier 3/4: redundant power, gas, fiber, and water for 99.982%+ uptime.
Energization
Target Q3 2028. Approximately 24 months from Final Investment Decision.
Cost transparency
Power cost: $23.69 per MWh.
Year-1 (2028) total cash operating cost per MWh of generation, on a behind-the-meter delivery basis. Source: Black Bear project financial model.
Behind-the-meter delivery bypasses AESO non-energy charges; the grid-scenario equivalent is approximately $26/MWh. Excludes capital recovery and equity return; operating-cost basis only.
The cost reflects AECO gas at a heat rate of 5.69 — AECO-hub gas has historically traded approximately 40% below NYMEX / Henry Hub — a long-term service agreement attached to the combined-cycle equipment, and net Alberta TIER carbon that is fixed through 2040 under the May 2026 Canada–Alberta agreement and nets to zero in Year 1.
Year-1 cash cost of ~$24/MWh against an AESO pool price of ~$54/MWh in 2028, forecast to reach ~$66 by 2031 — a structural margin that holds across the project life.
$23.69
USD per MWh
Year-1 total cash operating cost, behind-the-meter delivery basis. Excludes capital recovery and equity return.
Source: Black Bear project financial model. Forward-looking; subject to fuel price, regulatory, and operating assumptions. AESO pool price forecast: URICA Commodity Forecast, 2028–2031.
Market context
Recent comparable transactions.
Gigawatt-scale buyers are committing to dedicated, behind-the-meter power. Black Bear sits squarely inside that precedent — at a Year-1 cost roughly a quarter of the delivered cost in Virginia.
Sources: Microsoft / Constellation press release, September 2024; Talen Energy 8-K and investor presentations, March 2024; Constellation / Meta press release, June 2025; Google / Kairos public announcement, 2024; AWS / Talen Cumulus campus disclosures, 2024.