CANADA: Quebec AI Processing Centers To Heat Gigantic Greenhouse Complex
A Quebec City entrepreneur, well known in the field of technology, is piloting a pharaonic project. Workers are working quietly on a large plot of land in Saint-Nicolas. The value of the total investment is in the billions of dollars. And it would be only the first of a series of "campuses" at the cutting edge to be built on Quebec soil. And, there's greenhouses in it.
Developer Martin Bouchard, founder of the Copernic search engine and then of the 4Degree data centers, wants to build at least three high-intensity data processing complexes with thermal waste recovery, to which would be added a pole of applied innovation in artificial intelligence. The total estimated cost is close to 5 billion euros. Why that could be relevant for the horticultural industry? The business plan calls for the recovered heat being used to heat greenhouses. "We want to contribute to the province's food autonomy with a potential of 400 hectares of greenhouses for the first campus alone," he tells in an article on LaPresse.
Put the words artificial intelligence, innovation, circular economy, high-capacity computer servers, clean energy, greenhouse production, food autonomy; stir calmly and you will obtain the "Baiejamésienne" project on which Mr. Bouchard and his associates Vincent Thibault and Dany Perron have been working for three years on the QScale project.
QScale is a high-density data processing campus. The campuses seek to meet the needs of machine learning, which is in growing demand with the arrival of artificial intelligence in businesses. Consider the data calculations required to safely drive autonomous vehicles. Bouchard cites Tesla, Volkswagen, Pfizer and Goldman Sachs as potential clients.
The serial entrepreneur, along with private investors, has invested $30 million to start the project. The rest of the financial package will be revealed at the time of the official announcement. "We are working very hard to ensure that the ownership of the company remains entirely Quebec-based. "
The Quebec government is receptive to the project, La Presse has learned. Hydro-Quebec would have already said yes, assures Mr. Bouchard. The imprimatur of the monopoly of electricity distribution is essential because such a data center dedicated to artificial intelligence consumes twice as much power in a year as a city the size of Drummondville.
Construction has begun on the first campus located in Levis. Delivery is scheduled for November 2022. The daily newspaper Le Soleil recently outlined the project. QScale is planning a second branch in the Écoparc de Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, on Montreal's South Shore, just behind the commuter train station.
With the heat, greenhouses are to be heated. "We want to contribute to the province's food autonomy with a potential of 400 hectares of greenhouses for the first campus alone," he insists. However, all the vegetable production in greenhouses is currently grown on 123 hectares. "We are in discussion with several players for this part of the project," says Bouchard. André Michaud, a consultant for Savoura, says he has never been contacted by QScale. He said he was puzzled when he saw the project outline.
We have a greenhouse robotization project using artificial intelligence to eventually automate physically demanding jobs," says Mr. Bouchard. In Levis, we have the adjacent farmland that corresponds to the equivalent of 80 soccer fields, enough to produce 2880 tons of raspberries and 83,200 tons of tomatoes. "
4 Jun 2021