Data center developer QScale, in which the Quebec government has invested $95 million in loans and shares, has been waiting for more than two years for a green light from Hydro-Quebec for a second campus in Saint-Bruno.
“We can’t wait to have visibility on this because it’s been two and a half years since we made our requests and the market is definitely growing phenomenally. So it’s going to take more than a site like Lévis,” said QScale President Martin Bouchard in an interview with Log.
Photo Valerie Lesage
QScale President Martin Bouchard invited the media to a press briefing yesterday in Lévis to announce a new partnership with Énergir.
QScale says it has sold capacity for the first of its eight development phases at the Lévis site and is already building the second.
“We are talking about international customers for the most part. We are talking about players of very high caliber, people will be impressed, ”said Mr. Bouchard, without yet identifying clients.
Time is running out for answers, he said, because it takes three to four years to bring an “eco-responsible” data center into existence.
“We think our project is well positioned with heat recovery and decarbonization. We hope to meet the government criteria which will be announced in the coming months,” continued the entrepreneur.
Partnership with Energir
Mr. Bouchard announced yesterday a partnership with Énergir to valorize the thermal discharges produced by the Lévis data processing center. From the beginning of 2024, the heat produced by the facilities will be able to be 100% recovered in winter and redirected to other nearby users, in particular greenhouse growers. Heat buyers are currently sought. QScale has huge grounds to accommodate their facilities.
Ultimately, the complex will produce up to 96 megawatts, which is equivalent to the consumption of more than 15,000 Quebec homes. QScale competitors vent heat to the atmosphere, a practice we hope will change.
“We want to force the industry to recover the heat. If we do that, we can have a global impact on an industry that consumes almost 4% of the planet’s energy,” explained Vincent Thibault, co-founder of QScale.
Preferential tariff ?
Hydroelectricity supply rates are also a source of concern within the company.
For the Lévis campus, which will be operational in mid-April, QScale benefits from the industrial tariff (L). But the company does not know what could happen to Saint-Bruno if the green light is given.
“For the future, with QO2 [Saint-Bruno], it is not known if there will be a change in rates or rules. We wait. And yes, there are competitiveness issues. Energy in Quebec is a very complex subject,” says Mr. Bouchard, saying he hopes that we will be more demanding with the projects that will be set up in Quebec.
Our competitive advantage threatened by municipal taxes
Municipal taxes on the value of equipment risk destroying the competitive advantage of data centers in Quebec, says QScale President Martin Bouchard.
“Taxes on equipment can raise the tax bill to $15 million rather than $2 million,” indicated Mr. Bouchard, stating that the value of buildings and land in a data center is significantly lower than that of its equipment, which would not be taxed anywhere else in Canada or abroad.
“We don’t think it makes sense in itself and it’s not just for data centers, it’s also for hospitals and medical clinics that have state-of-the-art equipment,” says the entrepreneur.
QScale is part of a coalition of organizations trying to convince municipal authorities to bring taxation methods back to “fairer” criteria.
“We hope for an optimization because it penalizes our projects enormously compared to the competition. »
Our data with us
File photo, Stevens LeBlanc
Éric Caire, Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital
Quebec also has everything it needs to host sensitive government data, according to Mr. Bouchard, who reacted to the words of the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital, Éric Caire, open to hosting research data at the ‘foreign.
“I don’t see what’s missing in Quebec and if we want to decarbonize, we have to host the data in Quebec with green energy,” believes Mr. Bouchard, adding that QScale and other centers have the capacity to meet the needs of Quebec.