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Verified project profile

AHI Red Deer / Blindman Industrial Park AI Data Centre

Red Deer County approved the Phase 1 discretionary use in October 2025. Havenz reports that the first 10 MW natural-gas power block and supporting infrastructure are under construction. The installed engines are described as hydrogen-ready, but the reviewed sources do not establish current hydrogen blending or hydrogen-fuelled operation.

Havenz Smart Communities
How to read this profilePublic recordProponent statementProponent projectionADCW context

Project facts

Core scale, approval, employment, and schedule information, labelled by the type of evidence available.

Public record

Site

48.5 hectares (about 120 acres)

The Phase 1 buildings occupy only part of the parcel.

Sources [1]
Public record

Municipal decision

Approved October 7, 2025

Red Deer County approved the discretionary use with conditions. The motion carried with one councillor opposed.

Sources [2]
Public record

Phase 1 buildings

1,000 m² data centre; 471 m² administrationSources [1]
Proponent statement

Construction status

Phase 1 power block underway

Havenz reports foundations, mechanical and electrical work, and supporting infrastructure underway. Alberta Major Projects separately categorizes the project as under construction.

Sources [5], [3]
Proponent projection

Expected on-site employment

Approximately 5 to 7 people

Applicant estimate recorded in the County report, not an observed employment count.

Sources [1]

Energy and emissions

The current Phase 1 disclosure, later campus ambitions, and possible grid export are separate claims. Only the initial 10 MW power block is included as the current project capacity.

Important distinction: Hydrogen-ready equipment does not mean hydrogen is currently being used. Current fuel is described as natural gas. Hydrogen blending and eventual conversion are proponent plans whose timing, supply, and approvals are not public.
Proponent statement

Phase 1 generation

10 MW

The first modular on-site power block is intended to scale with customer demand. This is generation capacity, not a verified IT load.

Sources [5], [4]
Proponent statement

Current fuel configuration

Natural gas

The installed reciprocating engines are described as hydrogen-ready. No source reviewed by ADCW establishes that hydrogen is currently being supplied or burned.

Sources [5], [6]
Proponent statement

Hydrogen blending

Proposed future step

Energy Haven describes blending hydrogen with natural gas, but does not publish a blend percentage, supply contract, implementation date, or operating record.

Sources [6], [4]
Proponent statement

Full hydrogen transition

Long-term roadmap

The developer describes conversion as dependent on future feasibility. It is not current operation or an approved schedule.

Sources [6], [4]
Proponent projection

Longer-term campus power

200 MW+ claimed

Havenz markets the broader mixed-use campus at more than 200 MW. This is a future campus ambition, not the approved Phase 1 data-centre load or current generation.

Sources [4]
Proponent statement

Grid relationship

Export and interface capability proposed

Havenz and Energy Haven discuss future export opportunities and grid-interface capability while describing the campus as off-grid. No AESO connection project, export approval, final substation design, or operating export was verified.

Sources [4], [5], [6]
ADCW context

Air emissions and GHGs

Not quantified publicly

No project-specific public air-quality assessment, annual fuel demand, tonnes CO₂e estimate, or AUC power-plant decision was identified for the current Phase 1 system.

Sources [1], [5]

Water

The registry's waterless description does not establish zero site water demand. The County requires confirmation of consumption and use, and the public record does not quantify domestic, fire-protection, process, cooling, wastewater, or make-up water. [3], [1], [4]

Public record

Cooling

Waterless design reported

The provincial registry uses this description. Equipment details and operating water records are not published.

Sources [3]
Public record

Water demand and source

Confirmation required; volume not published

The County requires written confirmation from applicable authorities for project water consumption and use.

Sources [1], [2]
Proponent statement

Water recycling

Broader campus claim

Havenz describes on-site recycling as part of the larger innovation-campus concept. It does not provide a Phase 1 design, balance, or operating result.

Sources [4], [6]
ADCW context

Wastewater

Not publicly confirmed

No discharge route, sanitary demand, wastewater volume, treatment design, or agreement was identified in the reviewed sources.

Sources [1]
Public record

Stormwater

Prior plans referenced as approved

The County development engineer said access, grading, and stormwater-management plans had been approved under a previous development permit. The report does not reproduce their design or establish operating performance.

Sources [1]

Noise

The County summarized the applicant's findings but did not publish the assessment's numerical receptor tables. The approval makes mitigation and later receptor validation enforceable conditions.

Public record

Applicant assessment

22 residential properties within 1.5 km

The County says the assessment included the associated heat and power plant and cumulative noise from nearby regulated facilities, and predicted compliance for day and night. Numerical predictions are not reproduced in the report.

Sources [1]
Public record

Generator exhaust

Hospital-plus-grade silencers required

Final silencer design must be verified and results validated at receptor locations.

Sources [1], [2]
Public record

Backup generators

Acoustic enclosures required

The County condition applies to the 1.5 MW backup generation described in its report.

Sources [1], [2]

Indigenous context

Data centre projects sit within treaty territories and places with longstanding First Nations and Métis connections. This section brings together the public record on treaty geography, Indigenous ownership, consultation, and community concerns. Treaty boundaries alone cannot tell us which communities may be affected or how they view a project.

ADCW context

Treaty geography

Near the mapped Treaty 6 / Treaty 7 boundary

Geographic context only. It does not establish consultation, consent, or any community's position.

Sources [7]
Proponent statement

Equity-partner claim

Turning Stone identified by Havenz

Havenz calls Turning Stone an Indigenous equity partner. The reviewed public sources do not identify a Nation or community, ownership percentage, agreement terms, or consultation outcome.

Sources [5]

Approval and public process

The October 2025 decision approved a discretionary land use subject to 17 conditions. Permit issuance, building permits, and compliance with other municipal and provincial requirements remain distinct steps.

Public record

Approval

Discretionary use approved with 17 conditions

Conditions cover approved plans, nuisance, landscaping security, visual screening, noise mitigation, roads, water confirmation, emergency response, remediation, and repair of damaged public property.

Sources [1], [2]
ADCW context

Permit transparency

Condition-clearance records not located

The County required non-continuing conditions to be met before the development permit could issue or construction could begin. Later sources report construction underway, but ADCW did not locate the issued permits or records showing when the conditions were cleared. This gap does not establish that construction began early.

Sources [1], [5]
Public record

Road and traffic

Road Use Agreement required

The applicant must enter a County-approved road-use agreement. Expansion beyond Phase 1 requires an updated traffic-impact assessment for Highway 2A intersections.

Sources [1], [2]
Public record

Setbacks and visual impacts

Escarpment setbacks and screening apply

The Blindman plan identifies 30 m escarpment setbacks. Loading, storage, exterior mechanical equipment, and cooling towers must be screened from roads and adjacent sites.

Sources [1]
Public record

Environmental conditions

Development outside mapped sensitive area

The County places the buildings outside the Red Deer Canyon Environmentally Significant Area and requires any contamination caused by the applicant to be remediated at the developer's cost.

Sources [1], [2]

Timeline

Observed decisions and future dates are kept distinct; projected milestones may change.

  1. Public record

    Red Deer County's Municipal Planning Commission approves the discretionary data-processing-centre use subject to conditions. [1][2]

  2. Proponent statement

    Havenz reports that the first hydrogen-ready engines have arrived and that Phase 1 power-block construction is underway. [5]

  3. Proponent projection

    Havenz's target for commissioning the first power module. This remains a proponent schedule, not a verified operating date. [5]

  4. Public record

    Deadline in the County approval for paving the parking areas. [1][2]

What we still don't know

Some details have not been made public or remain unresolved. We keep those gaps visible and update them when reliable information becomes available.

  • The issued development permit, building permit, approved-plan revisions, and satisfaction of pre-construction conditions were not located in the reviewed public record.
  • The final data-centre IT load, tenant commitments, server deployment, and operations start are not confirmed.
  • No current hydrogen use, hydrogen supply, blend percentage, conversion date, or hydrogen-specific approval was verified.
  • The make, unit count, efficiency, annual gas demand, air emissions, greenhouse-gas emissions, and regulatory status of the current power system remain incompletely disclosed.
  • No public AESO project, final grid-interface design, export authorization, or operating power export was confidently matched.
  • Water demand, source, wastewater arrangements, and the details of the previously approved stormwater plan are not public.
  • The numerical noise predictions, receptor table, baseline measurements, and post-construction validation results are not public.
  • The identity and terms behind the Turning Stone equity-partner claim and any project-specific Indigenous consultation outcomes are not disclosed.

Source record

Primary and official sources reviewed for this profile. Company disclosures support what the company said, not independent verification of future outcomes.

  1. Request for decision: Data Processing Centre, file D-25-212

    Red Deer County · Municipal record · 2025-10-07

  2. Municipal Planning Commission minutes

    Red Deer County · Municipal record · 2025-10-07

  3. Blindman Industrial Park AI Data Centre

    Government of Alberta Major Projects · Government database · Accessed 2026-09-07

  4. AHI Red Deer Sustainable Innovation Campus

    Havenz Smart Communities · Company disclosure · Accessed 2026-09-07

  5. Construction accelerates at AI data centre near Red Deer

    Havenz Smart Communities · Company disclosure · 2026-02-24

  6. Energy Haven partnership with AHI Red Deer Sustainable Innovation Campus

    Energy Haven · Company disclosure · Accessed 2026-09-07

  7. Treaty Boundary dataset

    Government of Canada Open Government Portal · Government database · Modified 2026-06-29