Energy-First Development

AI Campus Hubs

Purpose-built sites for high-performance computing and AI operations. Unlike conventional data centres that depend on the public grid, our AI Campus Hubs are energy-first developments where power, heat, cooling, and digital infrastructure are planned together from day one.

24/7
Baseload Power
90%+
Total Efficiency
Zero
Grid Dependency
H2
Future Ready

The Energy-First Approach

Why Energy-First? Traditional data centres face a critical bottleneck: they're built first, then wait years for grid connections. In Canada, utility interconnection queues can stretch 5-7 years. AI Campus Hubs solve this by generating power on-site from day one.

Cogeneration Technology: At the core of each hub is a high-efficiency combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) paired with heat recovery steam generators. This cogeneration approach captures waste heat that would otherwise be lost, using it for cooling (via absorption chillers) and potentially district heating for nearby communities.

Strategic Locations: AI Campus Hubs are sited near natural gas infrastructure, water resources, and fiber connectivity—but away from congested urban grids. This allows rapid deployment while avoiding utility bottlenecks.

Key Benefits

On-Site Cogeneration

24/7 baseload power from high-efficiency combined-cycle generation. No grid dependency, no outages.

Integrated Heat Recovery

Waste heat from power generation and AI servers is captured for cooling and district heating.

Grid Independence

Avoids grid congestion and utility upgrade delays. Power is generated where it's consumed.

Lower Operating Costs

Cogeneration achieves 90%+ total efficiency, dramatically reducing energy costs per compute cycle.

Alignment with Canada's Net Zero Goals

Canada's Hydrogen Strategy

AI Campus Hubs are designed hydrogen-ready, allowing transition to clean hydrogen as supply scales.

Future-proofed for hydrogen blending

Clean Electricity Regulations

On-site generation with carbon capture can achieve near-zero emissions while providing baseload power.

Pathway to carbon-neutral compute

Federal Carbon Pricing

High-efficiency cogeneration minimizes carbon intensity, reducing exposure to rising carbon costs.

Economic resilience to carbon pricing

Provincial Climate Plans

Strategic locations in BC, Alberta, and Ontario align with provincial clean growth strategies.

Regional policy alignment

Greco Energy's Vision

Our AI Campus Hubs represent a new model for compute infrastructure in Canada. Led by Leo Paskalidis, we eliminate the grid bottleneck that constrains traditional data centre development by co-locating power generation with AI workloads. Each facility is designed for hydrogen blending, enabling a clear pathway to carbon-neutral operations as Canada's hydrogen economy scales.

On-Site GenerationHeat RecoveryHydrogen ReadyGrid Independent

Energy-first AI campuses: common questions

A campus that builds its own generation on the customer side of the meter instead of waiting for a utility interconnection. Because the power is behind the meter, the project sidesteps the five-to-seven-year queue that now applies to large loads across much of North America, and can energize in 18–24 months on the developer's own schedule.

Because grid allocation, not capital or land, has become the binding constraint. In British Columbia the 2026 BC Hydro Call for Demand opened only about 400 MW over two years with a 145 MW per-project cap; in Alberta roughly 20.7 GW of requests face a 1,200 MW limit to 2028. Demand far exceeds what utilities can allocate, so financeable projects that lose the allocation lottery still need power.

It is generally better, because the load never lands on the grid in the first place. Beyond that, an energy-first campus is designed to be dispatchable: storage plus compute that can shed within seconds means the facility can support the system at peak rather than add to it, and exported heat displaces gas heating in neighbouring buildings.

Typically 18–24 months from a committed start, against five to seven years for a new large-load utility interconnection. The determining factors are generation lead time — 9–18 months for gas engines, fuel cells or linear generators, 3–4 years for combined cycle — plus municipal permitting, which is why site selection and rezoning status matter more than equipment availability.

The energy layer underneath the building. GRECO develops generation, grid-scale storage, liquid cooling, interconnection and the district-heat export train as one coordinated system, so an offtaker leases finished, powered capacity from a single counterparty rather than assembling a shell, a power contract and a cooling retrofit separately.

Sources & Further Reading

Natural Resources Canada• 2024

Cogeneration and District Energy in Canada

International Energy Agency• 2024

Data Centre Energy Efficiency Best Practices

U.S. Department of Energy• 2023

Combined Heat and Power: A Clean Energy Solution