WHY ALBERTA
A structural cost edge,
not a subsidy.
Alberta is the world's fifth-largest natural gas producer, sits on a cold continental climate that reduces cooling load, levies zero tariffs on imported compute equipment, and operates a market structure built for Bring-Your-Own-Generation. The result is an all-in cash cost of power that no U.S.-sited builder can match.
Virginia. Texas. Alberta.
Three jurisdictions that absorb most large compute deployments today. Three structurally different cost structures. The Alberta column is a verified, project-attributable number from Teton's Black Bear financial model.
| Virginia | Texas | Alberta (Teton) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of Power ($USD/MWh)1 | ~$105 | ~$50 | ~$242 |
| Average annual temperature (°F) | 58° | 66° | 41° |
| Average PUE | 1.35 | 1.41 | <1.25 |
| Cooling CAPEX | Medium | High | Low |
| Water abundance | Low | Low | High |
| Interconnection queue wait | 4–7 yrs | 3–5 yrs | None — behind the meter (grid path 3–5 yrs) |
| Tariffs on compute equipment | Variable | Variable | None |
1 Virginia and Texas figures reflect all-in delivered wholesale-equivalent cost to a data center load, including energy LMP, capacity (PJM Dominion zonal cap of $444/MW-day for 2025/26; PJM 2026/27 system cleared at the $329/MW-day cap), ancillary services, and the projected 2027–2028 scarcity premium. Sources: PJM, EIA STEO 2026 forecast.
2 Alberta figure: Year-1 (2028) cash cost of power for Black Bear on a behind-the-meter delivery basis ($23.69/MWh per the project financial model). Northern Forge sits comparably, at <$30/MWh long-term. Excludes capital recovery and equity return. Source: Black Bear project financial model.
Eight structural reasons.
AECO-hub gas at a structural discount
AECO-hub natural gas has historically traded approximately 40% below NYMEX / Henry Hub, with the spread widening on Montney basin production growth. Alberta is the world’s fifth-largest natural gas producer.
Cold continental climate, low PUE
Cooling load is the silent CAPEX line in southern U.S. markets. The Alberta climate reduces cooling load and improves PUE to below 1.25 versus 1.35–1.41 in Virginia and Texas.
Water abundance
Water-intensive cooling is increasingly contested in U.S. southern markets. Alberta’s water position is structurally easier — particularly for sites Teton sources.
Zero tariffs on imported compute equipment
Alberta levies zero tariffs on imported compute equipment, reducing landed CAPEX versus U.S.-sited builds. A clean math advantage on GPU-heavy deployments.
Bring-Your-Own-Generation under AESO Phase 2A
Under AESO’s emerging Phase 2A Large Load Integration framework, BYOG is the explicit path forward for large compute loads. Physically tethering owned generation to compute load decouples where power is generated from where compute is sited.
Interconnect-on-demand
The AESO market structure permits interconnect-on-demand for grid sales, demand response, and ancillary services revenue when the operator elects to participate. Optionality without obligation.
Provincial alignment
The Alberta provincial government is openly supportive of bring-your-own-power data center development, and new dispatchable generation is being actively incentivized. The May 2026 Canada–Alberta agreement fixed industrial carbon pricing to 2040 and committed a provincial AI data centre policy framework — regulatory certainty no U.S. market currently offers.
$24 per MWh, audited
Teton’s Alberta flagship project delivers Year-1 cash cost of power at approximately $24/MWh — roughly a quarter of the all-in delivered cost in a major U.S. data center market. Verified against the project financial model.
MARKET CONTEXT
The grid alone won't get there.
The U.S. grid interconnection queue stands at roughly 1,500 GW. Wait times in major hubs run four to seven years. Ten or more states have proposed data center moratoriums or load-restriction measures. Even at $50–$100 per MWh, the slot to plug in doesn't exist.
The Alberta AESO queue holds 42 projects totaling 21.1 GW — nearly twice the province's entire peak load. Powered-land transactions have repriced 2–5x over a 24-month window. Hyperscalers and AI operators have started writing 20-year contracts for nuclear restarts because the math no longer works the old way.
Bring your own power. Energize when you're ready. Pay something close to fuel-and-O&M cost. That's the case for Alberta — and it's what Teton is built to deliver.
Sources: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab / U.S. DOE 2025; Wall Street Journal 2025; AESO public queue data; Hines / CBRE industry commentary.
Two Alberta flagships.
3 GW+ pipeline.
466 MW NGCC + ~2,500-acre Tier-compatible campus. Fully permitted. Q3 2028 target energization.
View campus page →200 MW behind-the-meter gas-to-compute. Phase I (30 MW) Q1, 2027.
View campus page →Confidential project materials available to qualified capital partners and off-takers under NDA.
Contact →