Shaping Data Centre Development: Saskatchewan’s Data Centre Framework and Canada’s Responsible Data Centre Development Principles

Recent developments from Saskatchewan and the federal government are among the latest in a line of domestic data centre policy developments. Saskatchewan’s new Data Centre Framework (Saskatchewan Framework), along with an accompanying news release from the Saskatchewan government, provides direction on priorities for the development of new data centres in the province. These are consistent with Canada’s Responsible Data Centre Development Principles (Federal Principles) that were released contemporaneously.

Saskatchewan Framework: Guiding Principles

The Saskatchewan Framework centres on six principles that will guide the assessment of future data centre projects in the province:

1. Canadian Ownership

“Preferred partners” are described as being Canadian-owned and headquartered. While this provides directional guidance on the nature of ownership, questions remain about what qualifies as Canadian ownership (e.g., something less than 100%), which parties will be captured (landlords or tenants) and whether this will be applied as a strict requirement or a preference.

2. Data Sovereignty

Data centres should provide a strategic advantage for the protection of domestic data storage and computing capacity. This principle is aligned with federal policy goals, including the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, which are designed to increase domestic compute capacity, drive economic growth and safeguard Canadian data.

3. Saskatchewan Jobs and Partnerships

The Saskatchewan Framework seeks to prioritize local labour, products and skills. While this is intended to ensure that local communities share in the benefits of development, no minimum thresholds or criteria are outlined.

4. Operating Experience

Industry experience is highlighted as a priority in the Saskatchewan Framework; however, no specific parameters or requirements have been set beyond reference to the need for reliable and stable proponents.

5. Bring Your Own Power (BYOP)

A key element of the Saskatchewan Framework is the requirement that data centres develop or arrange for their own generation capacity, putting a greater share of the infrastructure and supply burden on proponents. This is intended to provide consistency for developers while ensuring that projects do not place additional pressure on the electricity system or displace interprovincial export capacity. The prioritization of data centre projects that bring their own power is aligned with the recent approach in Alberta under the Data Centre Regulation.

It remains to be seen how the BYOP requirement will interact with SaskPower’s exclusive right to supply electrical energy in the province and whether consent requirements for on-site electricity generation may be relaxed or amended.

It will also be interesting to see if Saskatchewan’s commitment to small modular reactor (SMR) development will be used to support BYOP. Consistent with the federal government’s Nuclear Energy Strategy, Saskatchewan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta to, in part, establish a domestic team to develop nuclear power from SMRs as an energy supply option. SaskPower undertook a four-year evaluation process as part of this work, ultimately selecting the GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 as the design for SMR development in the province. Although the BRWX-300 can only produce up to approximately 300 megawatts from a single unit, aggregating two or more SMR units could deliver the level of firm and reliable on-site power supply needed for many data centres.

6. Centralized Provincial Intake

Like other provinces, Saskatchewan has not previously had a single, comprehensive permitting regime specific to data centres, with proponents instead navigating more general and disparate electricity, environmental assessment and other permitting processes. Details are yet to be released, including the role of municipalities, which appear to have continued planning and development authority. However, the Saskatchewan Framework contemplates a streamlined and coordinated process for evaluating proposals to ensure that the same review lens is applied to all applicants and to provide greater clarity to investors.

The Saskatchewan Framework does not change or clarify requirements regarding environmental impact assessments (EIA) for data centres, and proponents remain responsible for determining whether an EIA is required in any given case.

Federal Principles

The approach and priorities in the Saskatchewan Framework are largely aligned with the Federal Principles, namely that data centres must:

1. Create lasting local benefits for communities and Indigenous rights holders, with proponents to engage early to identify benefits that reflect the priorities of those parties;
2. Not shift project-driven electricity costs to Canadians or compromise grid reliability and, where required (presumably by the province), contribute new supply, infrastructure, storage or demand flexibility;
3. Minimize and transparently report on freshwater use and environmental impacts, with priority given to sustainable, low-impact technologies and practices;
4. Be transparent about local impacts and respect local approval processes; and
5. Bring strategic value to Canada, create clear and lasting benefits for Canada and strengthen the country’s long-term digital resilience, security and compute capacity.

The Federal Principles do not create new approval processes or requirements for data centres. Rather, they are intended to respect provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous regulatory processes and to create a national baseline (see press release here).

Looking Forward

Saskatchewan’s approach is the latest in a patchwork of provincial data centre policies and legislative approaches, which are in various stages of development (see our recent bulletin regarding emerging trends in Alberta, Ontario and other provinces). However, while the Saskatchewan Framework signals a shift toward more deliberate provincial oversight, it is high-level and further details will be required for investors and stakeholders to fully understand the implications for new developments. It will be instructive to see how the broad priorities are applied to the more than 30 applications in the queue at the time of the Framework’s release.

The Federal Principles are designed as a unifying national framework intended to complement provincial and local requirements. However, like the Saskatchewan Framework, it remains to be seen how these high-level principles will play out in practice. While the Federal Principles do not detract from the primary jurisdiction that provincial and local governments have over data centre development, the Federal Principles were expressly endorsed by a broad cross-section of industry signatories, suggesting that they will be viewed as instructive for proponents. The Federal Principles may also provide policy direction for provinces that do not yet have their own data centre frameworks in place.

For more information, please contact the authors or any other member of our Power or Energy Regulatory group.