AI Boom Drives Historic Power Demand Surge in Ottawa

Hydro Ottawa CEO Bryce Conrad informed city council that the utility is facing extraordinary pressure due to a historic surge in grid connection requests from large-scale customers. Data centers, fueled by the artificial intelligence boom, now account for 60% of the connection queue. This queue consists of 34 projects with cumulative power demands exceeding 1,000 MW, representing approximately 86% of the utility's average load.

Conrad expects total requests by the end of the year to surpass the average power consumption of all homes and businesses in Ottawa. Because most projects require connection within two years, the utility must attempt infrastructure growth in three years that typically takes over a century to build.

This trend is mirrored across the province. The Independent Electricity System Operator reported that data center requests for the Ontario grid reached 6,000 MW last month, marking a 70% increase over the previous two months.