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The rapid growth of energy consumption in the field of artificial intelligence poses new challenges for energy systems around the world to manage demand. In Canada, British Columbia was the first to face this problem, which, despite its advanced hydropower industry, has to contend with capacity constraints on its networks. In response to an influx of requests from companies planning to build large-scale data centers for machine learning, the provincial authorities and the state-owned energy company BC Hydro abandoned the previous principle of "first up, first off." Now, a competitive selection system is being introduced for new AI and data processing projects, which determines who will get access to electrical power.

As part of this initiative, a special, albeit limited, pool of energy is allocated up to 400 megawatts. These capacities will be distributed among the participants during the first two years. This figure is comparable to a significant part of the output of a new large HPP Site C. The head of BC Hydro, Charlotte Mita, stressed that uncontrolled connection of large facilities can lead to overload of the entire system.

Projects will be evaluated comprehensively: according to their potential economic contribution to the development of the region, obligations regarding data sovereignty (priority is given to companies storing and processing information inside Canada), as well as environmental indicators. The latter include not only the carbon footprint, but also the use of innovative approaches to reduce overall resource consumption. These include, for example, waste heat disposal systems for heating nearby areas and technologies that minimize water consumption for cooling — a separate and increasingly urgent problem for the industry.

It is important to note that these innovations relate exclusively to the AI and data center segments. Ordinary industrial consumers, such as mining, timber, or LNG producers, will continue to work with BC Hydro according to the existing rules. Applications for the new competitive mechanism will be accepted on March 18, and the results will be announced in early autumn.

Moving from a simple connection to an active competitive selection, the province strives not only to manage the load on the electric grid, but also to direct the development of the high-tech industry in accordance with the long-term economic and environmental interests of the region.