Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners to back 932-MW Alberta “Greenlight” power project aimed at data center demand

Morgan Stanley Investment Management said its private infrastructure platform is investing in a new Alberta power project designed to serve long-term electricity needs tied to expanding data center development. The company announced the move through Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, describing the investment as part of a broader strategy focused on building and owning contracted power assets amid tight supply-demand conditions in North America’s electricity markets.

The project, called Greenlight Electricity Centre, is planned as a 932-megawatt gas-fired combined-cycle power generation facility in Sturgeon County. Combined-cycle plants use both gas turbines and steam turbines to improve efficiency by capturing energy from the heat produced during electricity generation, a feature that can improve output and operating economics relative to single-cycle designs.

Under the ownership structure outlined in the announcement, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Pembina Pipeline each will hold a 47.5% interest in Greenlight, while Kineticor Asset Management will own the remaining 5%. Morgan Stanley said Pembina will serve as construction and operations manager for the project, and it said Kineticor will continue to provide construction support as the development progresses.

Morgan Stanley also said the investment reflects its thematic focus on developing and constructing power assets that are contracted for the long term. The firm tied the rationale to what it characterized as a structural electricity supply-demand imbalance in North American markets, alongside growth in electricity demand linked to artificial intelligence and data center activity.

The company said Greenlight is expected to provide power under a long-term agreement to a major data center development customer building a co-located data center campus. It added that the project is expected to begin supplying power in the second half of 2030, subject to the usual permitting, construction, and project-completion milestones.

Industry background can help explain the approach. As data center operators seek large, reliable loads, electricity procurement increasingly gravitates toward projects with long-dated offtake arrangements, because they can reduce the risk of supply shortages and help utilities or developers secure capacity. For infrastructure investors, those contracted frameworks can also make future cash flows more predictable than purely merchant generation, although final economics depend on contract terms and regulatory outcomes.

Morgan Stanley did not disclose, in the announcement, the total project cost, the size of its specific investment dollars, or the detailed commercial terms of the long-term power agreement, including price structure and contract duration. It also did not name the data center customer in the announcement, and it did not spell out any specific regulatory approvals that have already been secured.

Looking ahead, investors and project stakeholders will likely focus on permitting progress, construction milestones, and the finalization of the long-term supply agreement terms. The 2030 start date is a key marker, and the ability to deliver on schedule will determine whether the new capacity aligns with the pace of data center-driven demand growth in Alberta and beyond.