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EverWind Fuels is pitching a new future for its Point Tupper industrial site near Port Hawkesbury: a $10-billion artificial intelligence data centre campus whose first tenant will be Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI assistant.
Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease with EverWind for the facility, tying one of the world’s prominent AI developers to a proposed project that would reshape power demand and industrial development in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton.
A 420-megawatt expansion plan
The first phase of the data centre is set to deliver 95 megawatts of capacity by late 2027. EverWind expects to add another 325 megawatts in 2028, bringing the campus’s total demand to 420 megawatts.
The scale of EverWind’s planned buildout underscores how quickly Canada’s data centre market is expanding, a trend also reflected in The Canada Report’s coverage of Saskatchewan’s $50 billion BCE-backed data centre expansion. That broader push helps frame the size of the Point Tupper investment that follows.
EverWind puts the overall investment at about $10 billion, including roughly $8 billion for the data centre and $2 billion for onshore wind development.
“Point Tupper has supported industry in the Strait Region for more than 50 years,” EverWind founder and CEO Trent Vichie said. He described the announcement as “a new chapter for the site,” with opportunities for rural Nova Scotia.
The company projects about 2,000 construction jobs and 215 permanent jobs. Vichie said the investment is intended to create opportunities for Nova Scotians to build careers closer to home.
“For decades, Nova Scotians have helped build major projects across Canada, often leaving home to find well-paying work,” he said. “With this investment, we’re creating more opportunities for people to find jobs and build their careers at home in rural Nova Scotia.”
Power costs at the centre
The scale of the project has placed electricity supply and household power bills at the centre of the debate.
EverWind says it will pay for grid connections and required upgrades, with the stated aim of protecting existing ratepayers from power-rate impacts. The company also says the independent grid operator has produced a study or assurances supporting the project’s power needs.
Premier Tim Houston called the proposal “a powerful vote of confidence in Nova Scotia and our future,” saying the investment could create jobs, strengthen rural economies and help position the province in the digital and clean-energy economy.
But critics say assurances must be backed by stronger protections.
Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender has called for legislation to protect ratepayers, citing concerns about data centres’ effects on electricity prices and fresh water. “The premier is saying people should just trust his word that Nova Scotians will be protected,” Chender said in a statement.
Water concerns and approvals
Cooling is another central question. The data centre would use water from Landrie Lake under provincial regulatory approvals.
EverWind has said it will safeguard the local water supply. Still, environmental groups have raised concerns and called for additional protections and analysis before the development proceeds.
Thomas Arnason McNeil of the Ecology Action Centre said the proposal raises questions about both ratepayer impacts and environmental consequences that need thorough examination beforehand.
The project has also prompted planned community opposition. More than 100 people marched to Province House in Halifax the day after the announcement, according to the Dalhousie Gazette, and organizers have said further rallies are planned in communities including Halifax, Sydney, Kentville and Port Hawkesbury.
A high-stakes local proposal
For Point Tupper and the surrounding Strait Region, the plan carries the promise of long-term work alongside unanswered public concerns about the costs of accommodating a major new industrial electricity user.
Richmond County Warden Lois Landry, speaking when the proposal first emerged, captured that tension: “So we welcome economic opportunity, but to follow up on what the premier has been talking about, that’s not a blank cheque.”
EverWind’s proposal now brings that question into sharper focus: whether Nova Scotia can secure the jobs and investment promised by a major AI buildout while protecting the power bills and local resources that residents say cannot be treated as an afterthought.
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