This page is company-level and cross-site. It lays out Beacon's projects elsewhere and lets the pattern show. Every claim traces to a named, dated source. For the Calvert proposal itself, see the Calvert page.
A three-year-old developer with a large pipeline and no finished building.
Beacon Data Centers, also called Beacon AI Centers, was launched in 2023 by Nadia Partners, a New York and Calgary venture-capital firm that, in its own description, "originates and incubates" the companies it backs. Beacon made its public launch in January 2025. Josh Schertzer, formerly Blackstone's chief technology officer for enterprise technology, was named chief executive in May 2025. The co-founder who has spoken for the Calvert project, Joe Shovlin, is the same executive who presented Beacon's Texas project to county commissioners there.1,2
Beacon has no operating data centers. The company itself puts its first facilities online toward the end of 2027, or early 2028 at the latest. So every assurance offered to Calvert residents comes from a company with no completed project anywhere to check it against. What it has instead is a set of proposals, and those proposals are consistent enough to be worth reading side by side.2,3
Beacon's own campuses page, updated June 30, 2026, lists seven active sites across North America: Calvert, Alabama; Elk Hills, California; sites in the Calgary and Edmonton areas of Alberta; Saint John, New Brunswick; and Tom Green County, Texas. Earlier materials also named a Chestermere, Alberta campus and an Ohio site. The number has moved over time, and several sites have been renamed: the Saint John project is now "Spruce Lake," and the Texas project, once "Dove Creek," is now "Westline." We quote each figure with its date rather than reconcile them.4
What Beacon has proposed, and how each community answered.
Each row is one Beacon site: what is proposed, where the power comes from, what residents did, and where it stands. The power column is the one to read down. Every figure is a company statement, a filing, or a news report, sourced below.
| Site | Size | Power source | What residents did | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calvert Infrastructure HubMobile County, AL | Undisclosed MW · ~$6B · 95 of 650 ac5 | Alabama Power grid; company says no diesel and "no on-site emissions"5 | Open house June 17, 2026 (50-plus attendees, company count);5 a residents' petition is circulating13 | Land under contract; no county vote filed5 |
| Golden Valley Tech HubElk Hills, Kern County, CA | 275 MW · ~600,000 sq ft6 | Behind-the-meter natural gas (a 550 MW plant owned by the oil company California Resources Corp) plus 15 × 2.5 MW diesel generators6 | The operator gathered about 150 support signatures; some eastern Kern residents urged supervisors to oppose it6 | In California environmental review (CEQA), roughly a year6 |
| Indus Data Center HubRocky View County, AB | 1,494 MW power plant · ~900 ac7 | On-site natural gas, up to 100 reciprocating engines, filed by a separate entity named "Indus Power"7 | All 97 federal submissions opposed or raised concerns; Tsuut'ina and Blackfoot Confederacy nations filed concerns7 | Federal assessment declined; Rocky View County intervened to move it to the Alberta Utilities Commission7,8 |
| Spruce Lake Data Center HubLorneville, Saint John, NB | ~390 MW demand, over a tenth of the province's electricity9 | 190 MW on-site gas plant built by VoltaGrid; estimated ~750,000 tonnes CO₂ a year, among the province's largest emitters9 | A petition drew 4,000 signatures, reported to be about 98% of Lorneville9 | Council approved the rezoning over the petition; residents filed for judicial review, and the province refused a moratorium9 |
| Westline SiteDove Creek, Tom Green County, TX | ~1,770 ac (~1,240 buildable)10 | Entirely on-site natural gas generation, the grid as backup only10 | More than 500 residents opposed it at the company's own April 2026 meeting10 | Renamed from "Dove Creek Technology Campus"; commissioners rejected a 12-month moratorium on June 2, 202610 |
| Chestermere campusChestermere, AB | 400 MW · 310 ac · CA$4B11 | Part of the same Alberta gas-powered cluster (Chestermere, Indus, Foothills)11 | Presented as an economic-development win; quieter than Indus so far11 | Presented to council February 25, 202511 |
Read the power column top to bottom. At five of these six sites the electricity comes from on-site or behind-the-meter fossil generation. Calvert is the one that names only the grid.
What Beacon says in Calvert, next to what Beacon builds elsewhere.
The company's Calvert statements are quoted fairly. Beside each is what the company's own portfolio shows. No filing yet binds the Calvert version, so the record elsewhere is the only track record there is.
"The site is designed without backup diesel generators. As a result, there are no on-site emissions, smoke, or engine noise."
Every other Beacon site runs on fossil power. California has 15 × 2.5 MW of diesel behind a 550 MW gas plant; Alberta's Indus campus is tied to a 1,494 MW gas plant; Saint John's to a 190 MW gas plant; Tom Green's to all on-site gas. Calvert is the only Beacon project in North America claiming pure grid power and no diesel.5,6,7,9,10
"We will never be considered a good neighbor… if everyone in the Concho Valley has a consequent increase in their electricity billing."
Beacon offers Calvert the same assurance: the project "will not impact community energy bills." The Tom Green project Shovlin was defending is powered by on-site natural gas generation. In Calvert, no power source beyond Alabama Power's grid has been named, and no utility agreement is public.5,10
Alabama Power "confirms the energy this development needs already exists on their lines." Beacon has not said how many megawatts that is.
Every other Beacon site discloses a number: 275 MW in California, about 390 MW in Saint John, 400 MW at Chestermere, 1,494 MW of generation at Indus. Each is well above the 150 MW mark that triggers Public Service Commission review in Alabama (SB270). Calvert's is the only figure the public cannot place against that line.6,7,9,11,12
Where the power plant arrived later, it arrived under another name.
At two of Beacon's sites, the generation did not come in under Beacon's own name. The Indus gas plant in Alberta was applied for by a separate entity, "Indus Power." The Saint John generation is built by VoltaGrid, a Texas company. In both places the campus was proposed first, and the power plant followed as a separate, later application under a different name.7,9
Whether the same thing happens in Calvert is not knowable today, and we will not guess it. But it is checkable. These are the documents that would answer it, if and when they appear:
- AADEM permits. Any on-site generation would need an air or construction permit from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. None has been filed for Calvert.
- BPublic Service Commission filings. A utility contract of 150 MW or more makes the site a "Large Load Data Center Customer" under SB270 and triggers PSC review. No such filing is public.
- CCounty Commission agenda items. An abatement, a road agreement, or an infrastructure deal would surface on a public agenda first.
- DAlabama Secretary of State registrations. A separately named power entity, as with Indus Power or VoltaGrid, would register with the state. Names worth a search: VoltaGrid, Dromore, or an Indus-Power-style entity.
None of these has appeared for Calvert as of July 7, 2026. Each is a public record anyone can check.
Every claim, sourced.
- Data Center Dynamics, "Nadia Partners launches Beacon AI Centers," 2025-01-20 (2025 launch, Nadia Partners incubation, co-founder Joe Shovlin). datacenterdynamics.com
- Businesswire / Data Center Dynamics, "Beacon AI Centers Appoints Josh Schertzer as CEO," 2025-05-15 (Schertzer, former Blackstone CTO of enterprise technology; ~4.9 GW pipeline; sites energized as early as 2027). datacenterdynamics.com
- ARC Energy Institute, "Inside the Coming Power Surge: Beacon AI Centers' Bet on Alberta" (podcast): first facilities toward the end of 2027, January 2028 at the latest. arcenergyinstitute.com
- Beacon Data Centers, "Campuses" page (updated 2026-06-30): "seven active data center sites"; Calvert (AL), Golden Valley / Elk Hills (CA), Heartland (Edmonton area, AB), Indus (Calgary area, AB), Spruce Lake / Saint John (NB), Westline / Tom Green County (TX). Ohio no longer listed. Snapshot to archive.org on each visit. beacondatacenters.com · DataCenterDynamics, Dan Swinhoe, "Canada's Beacon details plans for data center campus in Alabama," 2026-07-06: counts the portfolio at "more than six" campuses and observes that "several planned projects have seemingly been removed from the company's website." datacenterdynamics.com
- Beacon Data Centers, "Calvert Infrastructure Hub" page (published 2026-06-12, updated 2026-06-30): ~$6B initial construction, 95 of 650 acres, ~1,000 construction / ~250 permanent jobs, Alabama Power grid, "designed without backup diesel generators… no on-site emissions," June 17 open house. No megawatt figure given. All figures are the company's own, uncorroborated by any public filing. beacondatacenters.com
- Data Center Dynamics, "Canada's Beacon DC targets 275MW data center campus on California oil field," 2026-06-24 (Kern County 275 MW, CRC 550 MW gas plant, 15 × 2.5 MW diesel); Grist, "A solution to data center backlash? Put them in oil fields," 2026-06-18 (siting and ~150 support signatures); turnto23 (eastern Kern residents urge opposition). datacenterdynamics.com · grist.org
- The Chestermere Anchor, "Opposition Mounts as Federal Agency Clears Early Hurdle for Proposed Indus Data Centre Power Plant," 2026-04-07 (1,494 MW, up to 100 engines, all 97 submissions opposed or concerned, First Nations letters); Impact Assessment Agency of Canada registry, Beacon AI Centers Indus Project (proj 90121). theanchor.ca · iaac-aeic.gc.ca
- DiscoverAirdrie, "Rocky View County formally joins AUC review of Beacon AI Hub power plant" (intervention, February 2026); Rocky View County, Beacon AI Hub Area Structure Plan page. discoverairdrie.com
- The Narwhal, "In New Brunswick, residents battle the government over a planned AI data centre" (~390 MW, petition, ~98% of Lorneville); Frequency News (~750,000 tonnes CO₂/year, 190 MW VoltaGrid gas); NB Media Co-op, 2026-06-19 (province refuses moratorium); The New Wark Times, "Lorneville activists want judge to overturn Saint John council's decision," 2025-11-15 (judicial review filed). warktimes.com The exact rezoning vote date is reported inconsistently, so it is stated here without a date. thenarwhal.ca
- San Angelo LIVE!, "Tom Green County Commissioners Reject Data Center Moratorium," 2026-06-02 (on-site gas, moratorium rejected); Concho Valley Homepage (500-plus opposed, April 2026 meeting; project renamed "Westline"). sanangelolive.com
- Chestermere reporting via AB Resistance, "AI DATA Centers," 2026-06-23 (CA$4B, 400 MW, 310 ac presented to council 2025-02-25; the Chestermere / Indus / Foothills cluster). abresistance.substack.com
- Alabama SB270 / Ala. Code §37-4-22.1: Public Service Commission review of "Large Load Data Center Customer" contracts of 150 MW or greater; signed 2026-04-17, effective 2026-10-01. alison.legislature.state.al.us
- Residents' petition, "Protect Mount Vernon Alabama: Stop Industrial Data Center Development Near Our Community," circulating as of July 2026. change.org
Figures move as Beacon revises its pages and as filings land. Each is quoted with its date. This page updates as sources are confirmed.
What this means for Calvert.
The Calvert proposal
What Beacon has proposed here, the company's own claims, and the open questions the record leaves.
→Diesel & air
The no-diesel claim, next to the 15 × 2.5 MW of diesel at the company's California site.
→Power & your bill
The undisclosed Calvert load, and the 275 to 1,494 MW disclosed at every other Beacon site.