TC Energy, a Calgary based natural gas and energy company, has approved a $900 million natural gas pipeline project in the Midwest of the US to serve gas-fired power plants which intend to power the region’s growing data center market.

The Northwoods pipeline expansion project is expected to add 400,000 million British thermal units – equivalent to 117,228MWh – of new capacity, and increase the storage capacity of the system by 0.4 billion cubic feet per day.

The project will expand the ANR pipeline, which covers more than 10,600 miles delivering natural gas from Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma to Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio.

“We have approved the Northwoods project on our ANR system, designed to serve electric generation demand in the US Midwest, including data centers and overall economic growth,” said Francois Poirier, president and CEO at TC Energy.

The project will include pipeline looping, compressor facility additions, as well as other systems updates. It has an anticipated in-service date of late 2029 and is tied to 20 year take-or-pay contracts with Midwest utilities.

The Midwest is emerging as one of the fastest-growing data center hubs in the US. The growth is the result of significant tax incentives and cooler temperatures, which make it an ideal location for large-scale data centers. For example, Ohio currently has 179 operational data centers, making it the fifth-largest market in the US. Amazon Web Services is the dominant player in the market, with 56 planned or already in operation across Ohio, according to Data Center Maps.

Alberta data center growth

TC also said it is considering options in powering the Alberta, Canada data center market. Unlike projects in the US, where it is broadly seeking behind-the-meter agreements to power data centers, in Canada, TC is seeking utility partners to provide natural gas directly to the grid.

“Strictly from a pipeline perspective, it’s a little bit different in Canada, a little bit more of an ‘if you build it they will come’ kind of approach,” said Poirier.

“So we are working with producers, developers as well to see what the solution set might look like.”

Greg Grant, who leads TC’s power and energy division, said that Alberta has more than 12GW of prospective data center capacity seeking a grid connection. However, despite the demand, the company is not seeking to set up its own gas-fired power plants to serve the sector.

“We’re going to be very thoughtful in our approach and of course we must compete for capital among all the other great opportunities,” Grant said.

Alberta is increasingly becoming a hotbed for AI data centers seeking available and affordable gas power. The province produces more than half of the country’s natural gas, reaching 11.2 billion cubic feet per day in 2023, the highest level since 2010.