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A comment on Irish datacenters now guzzle 23% of the country's electricity. Parent comment

Re:Irish datacenters now guzzle 23% of the country's electri... by apercu on Sunday July 12, 2026 @05:41PM (#48885098)
I lived in Ontario for 18 years and found power to be quite expensive compared to the midwestern US state I lived in before and after.

I believe this is due to the concentrated population centers needing to subsidize the transmission to the least populated areas, and would guess this would have an impact on energy costs for data centers in Canada. But again, my experience is (mostly) limited to SW Ontario, where everything is fairly expensive.

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Re:Irish datacenters now guzzle 23% of the country's electri... by retrac on Sunday July 12, 2026 @07:05PM (#48885781)
Quebec has a larger grid and lower rates due to its abundant hydroelectricity.

Ontario's relatively high costs are from the supply mix which is about 50% nuclear, 30% hydro, 10% wind, 10% gas.

Residential kWh as delivered is currently (no pun intended) about 12 US cents which is a bit high if you're used to Midwestern or Alberta coal but those in California are probably envious.

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Re:Irish datacenters now guzzle 23% of the country's electri... by bawolff on Sunday July 12, 2026 @07:52PM (#48886127)
> Alberta coal

Alberta doesn't have any coal power plants afaik.

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Re:Irish datacenters now guzzle 23% of the country's electri... by gnabgib on Sunday July 12, 2026 @08:03PM (#48886207)
Not since 2024[0].. there's still coal mines though.

[0]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-genesee-2-off...

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Re:Irish datacenters now guzzle 23% of the country's electri... by dmix on Sunday July 12, 2026 @07:05PM (#48885783)
Energy prices are cheaper in Canada as a whole than the US which is cheaper than Europe. While China it's still significantly cheaper that those since they invested in every sort of energy instead of fighting it.
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Re:Irish datacenters now guzzle 23% of the country's electri... by j45 on Sunday July 12, 2026 @06:32PM (#48885552)
The post above seems to point to Alberta as the best value prop.
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