Oct 20, 2025 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji
The Government of British Columbia in Canada will limit the state’s data center energy usage and ban new cryptomining projects. The government stated that it would introduce legislation and regulations to “address unprecedented demand for electricity and ensure that BC and Canadian economic interests are reflected in the allocation of British Columbia’s growing clean-electricity supply.”
AI data centers will be affected in two main ways. First, regulatory and policy changes will put “limits on the power available for data centers and AI.” Second, a piece of legislation titled the Energy Statutes Amendment Act will enable the data center and AI industry to “grow in a manner that results in the greatest benefit to people in British Columbia and the economy.”
This reflects the Government of British Columbia’s desire to use its abundant renewable energy to support its burgeoning natural resource industry as opposed to data centers. The announcement lays this out in explicit terms, stating that data centers and AI projects “generally provide fewer jobs and revenues than natural resource projects, while consuming large volumes of power.”
