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Old Posted Nov 6, 2025, 1:28 PM
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Bishop2047 Bishop2047 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn View Post
Thanks

Did no anyone point out the CEO for actually being from Rothesay and not an actual Saint Johner, or did he clarify that he's a Rothesayite?

I don't know exactly what to think of Nathan Ough and VoltaGrid. On one hand this data centre is offering a huge investment in the Saint John economy that will create a lot of jobs and generate significant tax revenue, but on the other hand, I question why on site natural gas power generation solutions are necessary for this facility to operate, and wonder if these facilities will still be needed after a second reactor is built at Point Lepreau.

I've heard VoltaGrid's CEO is quite a Trump supporter, which isn't exactly the most popular stance in Canada, but I would like to evaluate this proposal on the basis of its economic impact, and not the political leanings of the CEO. This data centre will far outlive Donald Trump.

I did not watch the whole meeting, but I did watch some of it. The CEO of VoltaGrid was pretty much as I expected, and he seemed very committed to this project. The representative of BeaconAI seemed to be an Irish lad, but I didn't catch his title, so not sure if was as central a figure to BeaconAI as Mr. Ough is to VoltaGrid.

Putting politics, environmental questions, and controversy aside, this really must have been quite a proud moment for Mr. Ough to come back to the city next to his hometown and advocate for a multi billion project to be built in the region he grew up in. I'm sure we will be hearing lots from him on this project into the future. Glad he didn't forget where he came from.
There are multiple reason to go with Natural Gas at a data centre. Some practical and some for optics https://www.powermag.com/data-centers-ar...te-long-lead-times-for-grid-connections/.

Main reasons are:

-As an alternative power source rather than relying on the grid. Especially important during outages.
-Less political. When rates go up people are less likely to blame the energy pig, that at least generates some of its' own required load.
-The site it close to NG capacity
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