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The company behind three major data centres in northern B.C. and the Kootenays is making a big shift.
Australia-based company Iren got its start bitcoin mining but is now transitioning to AI data storage. Since making the pivot it has seen its stock price surge 350 per cent and it’s now worth $13 billion US.
But the move comes as the province sets new limits for how AI data centres can access power.
Iren’s chief commercial officer Kent Draper said the company originally built its facilities with multiple different uses in mind, and as AI has become more popular it’s allowed the company to use the same infrastructure it was using for bitcoin mining for AI workloads.
“Case in point, today at our Prince George site, we literally have Bitcoin miners running in the very same data halls that we have AI servers running,” said Draper.
Iren’s 50 mega-watt Prince George site began offering AI data storage 18 months ago. Draper says they are installing more graphics processing units (GPUs) and once that is complete the site will solely be used for AI.
Work is also underway to upgrade the equipment at Iren’s sites in Mackenzie and Canal Flats.
Draper claims the shift to AI will bring more jobs to the areas because AI data storage is more labour intensive than bitcoin mining.
Currently it offers 60 permanent positions between the Prince George and Mackenzie sites, and they’re planning to triple those positions, Draper said. The upgrades will also offer about 100 temporary construction jobs during the peak of expansion.
Draper said Iren was initially attracted to B.C. because of the access to hydroelectricity and the province’s colder climate allows them to cool equipment without using water.
“We were seeing a withdrawal of a number of manufacturing and industrial users of electricity, particularly pulp and paper mills, lumber mills, etc. and there was a lot of electrical infrastructure that had been built to service those operations,” he said.
Policy changes
However, in October the province announced policy changes that prioritize power for natural resource projects and will force AI data centres to bid for power.
B.C. Hydro will call for projects in early 2026, and invite companies to compete for access to power. During a two-year time period, AI projects will have combined access to 300 megawatts and other data centres will have combined access to 100 megawatts.
The projects will be assessed to ensure they fit within B.C.’s economic objectives, such as jobs and benefit to provincial interests, while remaining within the total energy volumes allocated to these specific sectors, according to the province.
B.C.’s policy changes also make its current ban on new crypto currency connections permanent.
Kate Harland, a research lead for clean growth at the Canadian Climate Institute, says that amid the increased demand for electricity in the province, the changes were needed.
“The old system was very much ‘first come, first served’ and there was very little ability for B.C. Hydro to say no to some of the crypto mining sector that was growing,” she said. “There wasn’t necessarily the kind of local economic benefit that was coming with that.”
She says AI data centres have more potential benefits than crypto mining in terms of telecommunications infrastructure, employment and computing capacity.
“What other benefits can it bring with it versus, you know, another data centre, or maybe another industry that might be looking for that same power?”
Draper says Iren won’t be able to expand its bitcoin operations under the rules, but it had already intended to shift toward AI storage. He says Iren will continue to operate and expand in B.C., subject to the regulatory restraints that have been put in place.
“Whenever you have a situation where governments are determining allocation of resources rather than markets, I think it generally produces less efficient outcomes than deciding, you know, letting the market decide,” he said.
Draper says Iren’s is pushing ahead on its upgrades in B.C. with work continuing into next year.
