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Anthropic signs 20-year lease at EverWind’s Point Tupper campus, its first data-centre deal in Canada

Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease for the 95 MW first phase of EverWind's planned Point Tupper data centre campus in Cape Breton, its first data-centre deal in Canada. The phase is due in late 2027 and will run on Nova Scotia's existing grid until EverWind's wind farms are built. What was signed, who pays for the grid hookup, the water numbers, and what has not been disclosed.

By Cole Harlan · 18 Oct 2026 · 17 min

Cowry Tech News text card: AI and Cloud, Anthropic signs 20-year lease at EverWind's Point Tupper campus
Cowry Tech News

Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease for the first phase of a data centre campus EverWind plans to build at Point Tupper, Nova Scotia. It is Anthropic’s first data-centre agreement in Canada, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.

EverWind announced the project on Friday, 16 October, in a GlobeNewswire release at 10:00 ET. The release put the plan at more than C$10 billion. That figure covers two things: more than C$8 billion to develop, build, own and finance the campus, and C$2 billion for four onshore wind projects. Bloomberg converted the headline number at about US$7.1 billion. (The release prints dollar signs without a currency code. Bloomberg and Reuters both report the total as C$10 billion, and dollar figures in this story are Canadian unless marked US$.)

The morning release named the tenant only as “a leading frontier AI developer.” Anthropic identified itself later the same day. CBC News and The Canadian Press both said Anthropic issued its own news release; Bloomberg said the statement from Jacob Glick, Anthropic’s head of public policy in Canada, was posted on LinkedIn.

On paper, the first phase is 95 megawatts, scheduled for late 2027. A 325 MW expansion is targeted for 2028, which would take the campus to 420 MW. EverWind’s release attaches a condition to that second number: it is “subject to applicable commercial, technical, and regulatory conditions.”

The value of the lease was not disclosed. The Canadian Press reported that EverWind officials declined to give it.

What was signed

EverWind builds and owns; Anthropic leases. CBC described the arrangement as EverWind building and owning the facility while Anthropic leases the first phase “for a term of at least 20 years.” The Canadian Press and The Logic both reported a 20-year lease. The Canadian Press said the first-phase building is 18,600 square metres. SaltWire called it a 200,000-square-foot warehouse, which is about the same floor area.

The Logic reported that Anthropic typically buys compute from large cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Google, and that in Nova Scotia it will instead lease space directly from the data-centre owner and energy provider. Its story describes a lease for “the space and power to run its AI models.” That is a different relationship from renting cloud instances, and it puts the tenant closer to the building, the power supply and the local politics.

Anthropic’s statement, as carried by the outlets that received it, talked about demand and about conduct. CBC quoted the release as saying the data centre “will power Claude models and serve growing demand from Canadian and global customers.” The Canadian Press reported that Anthropic said in the release that Canada is the sixth-largest user of Claude worldwide. SaltWire put it as sixth out of 121 countries for Claude.ai use.

Glick’s statement appears in slightly different forms depending on the outlet. The Logic and Global News both quoted him: “Canadians are using Claude in growing numbers, and we want our infrastructure to be closer to the people who rely on it.” The Logic and the Globe and Mail both carried a second line: “The people of Nova Scotia should benefit from what gets built in their community, and we will work together to achieve shared goals and earn our place as a good neighbour.”

Global News added: “Canada has set a high bar for responsible data centre development, as has the Premier of Nova Scotia, and we are committing to meeting it.” The Globe quoted: “Our work with EverWind will help meet growing demand for Claude in Canada while bringing new clean energy onto the grid and protecting existing electricity customers.” Bloomberg’s version, from LinkedIn, read: “Canadians use Claude at some of the highest rates in the world, and this brings our infrastructure closer to the people who rely on it.”

CTN could not locate Anthropic’s release on its own newsroom. As of Sunday afternoon, Anthropic’s newsroom listed no item about Nova Scotia or EverWind, and Glick’s LinkedIn post could not be retrieved without a login. The Anthropic quotes in this story are as reported by the named outlets.

The Point Tupper build

The site is EverWind’s existing industrial property at Point Tupper, just outside Port Hawkesbury in Richmond County, about 200 kilometres east of Halifax. EverWind already plans a green hydrogen and ammonia plant there. The release says that plan “remains unchanged” and that the data centre will complement it.

CBC reported that land clearing is underway and that officials hope to pour foundations before winter. If that happens, the first phase has about a year from foundations to a late-2027 opening.

On money, EverWind said it plans to spend its own capital and, with a long-term lease signed, will now pursue financing from banks and pension plans, according to The Canadian Press. The Globe and Mail quoted Matthew Tinari, EverWind’s chief financial and strategy officer, in an email: “We have engaged leading investment banks to issue the project debt and each phase will be financed separately.” The Globe also reported that EverWind did not provide specifics of its financing plans.

Financing by phase fits the way the release conditions each phase. The 95 MW first phase has a signed tenant. No tenant has been named for the 325 MW expansion. Neither the release nor any of the coverage CTN read says whether Anthropic’s lease extends to the second phase. The Canadian Press put the expansion at “mid-2028.” EverWind’s release says only 2028.

The release does not say whether 95 MW refers to critical IT load or total facility draw. The Canadian Press described it as a building “that would draw 95 megawatts of electricity during its first phase.” The difference matters to anyone sizing the hall, since it sets how many accelerators the power budget can feed. No one has published a chip count, a vendor or a rack density for the site.

Power: Nova Scotia’s existing grid carries phase one

EverWind’s four wind projects, Bear Lake, Windy Ridge, Kmtnuk and Upper Afton, are not expected to be ready when the data centre opens. The Canadian Press reported that EverWind said so directly. The Globe and Mail reported the same, adding that in the interim the centre’s impact on the provincial grid is being analysed for system costs, reliability and effects on customers. CBC reported that existing generation on the provincial grid would be the primary supply at first.

Phase one, then, runs on the grid Nova Scotia already has. CBC put the province’s current generating capacity at close to 3,000 MW. On those numbers, the 95 MW first phase is about 3% of that capacity and the full 420 MW campus would be about 14%. That is CTN’s arithmetic, and capacity is not the same as spare capacity at peak.

The accounts differ on whether there is room. The Canadian Press reported that company officials said the province’s independent grid operator has produced a study saying existing energy infrastructure can support the operation. CBC asked the operator. The Independent Energy System Operator told CBC it studies all new projects to ensure the grid can handle them before allowing them to connect. CBC reported that it did not answer specifically whether there is capacity for this data centre, and that EverWind officials said they had been assured there is capacity, “at least for Phase 1.”

On the second phase, EverWind’s release is more cautious. It says electricity-system impacts are being assessed through provincial system-planning and utility processes, and that “the planned expansion will not be connected to the grid until the required system studies and approvals are complete.”

The release also says the campus investment includes “several hundred megawatt hours” of battery storage and that the campus will be designed “to reduce or stop drawing electricity from the grid when necessary to protect reliability while maintaining operations.” The Canadian Press gave a smaller number for the battery: about 200 megawatt-hours. CTN has not resolved the difference.

The release does not explain how the campus keeps “maintaining operations” after it stops drawing from the grid. By CTN’s arithmetic, 200 MWh would carry a full 95 MW load for about two hours; “several hundred” MWh stretches that to a few hours. A longer grid event would need on-site generation, moving workloads elsewhere, or both. EverWind has not said which it plans.

The Canadian Press reported that EverWind already holds environmental approvals for four wind farms in mainland Nova Scotia with 650 MW of capacity, and that a First Nations consortium led by Membertou owns 51% of those projects. Neither EverWind nor the coverage CTN read gave an in-service date for them.

Who pays for the grid connection

EverWind’s release says the company will “fully fund all connection, network upgrade and other electricity-system costs attributable to the development, so those costs are not passed on to Nova Scotia ratepayers.” The Canadian Press reported that EverWind confirmed it would pay the full cost.

Anthropic made a similar promise in its own statement. The Logic reported that Anthropic promised to pay for grid upgrades required to connect the facility and to protect existing customers from related price increases. CBC and the Globe and Mail reported that EverWind and Anthropic said they will pay for required upgrades. How that cost is split between landlord and tenant has not been published.

Much depends on “attributable.” Which system costs count as caused by the campus, and by what method, is for a regulatory process to decide. The release says the analysis covers system costs, reliability and impacts on other customer classes, through provincial processes. It does not name a filing or a date.

EverWind and Anthropic also signed on to Ottawa’s Responsible Data Centre Development Principles, according to CBC. EverWind’s release confirms its own signature. CBC described the principles as a set of non-binding guidelines the federal government released last month.

Water use and closed-loop cooling

EverWind says the campus will use a closed-loop system in which a water-glycol mixture circulates through a sealed loop rather than being routinely discharged. Heat will be removed mainly by air, with water-assisted cooling in the hottest weather. The release credits Nova Scotia’s cooler climate with cutting cooling-water needs for much of the year.

Under current design assumptions, EverWind expects the first phase to use about 100,000 litres of water a day. The release compares that with a large shopping mall. At 420 MW, average use is expected to be about 500,000 litres a day. The Canadian Press and CBC both reported the same figures and said the water would come from nearby Landrie Lake.

The release puts the full build-out at about 1% of Landrie Lake’s identified daily safe yield of about 34 million litres. CBC reported that the provincial regulator has approved the Landrie Lake Water Utility to withdraw 34 million litres a day.

These are design estimates, not metered numbers. They are also averages. A system that switches on water-assisted cooling only in hot weather will use more on the hottest days than the average suggests. The release does not give a peak-day figure.

EverWind said any cooling fluid removed during maintenance will be captured for recycling or off-site disposal rather than discharged into local waterways.

Jobs, money for the community, and Membertou

EverWind projects about 2,000 construction positions across the staged build-out and 215 permanent operating positions. The 215 figure covers both the data centre campus and the wind portfolio, per the release. The Canadian Press reported that EverWind said permanent data centre jobs will pay $135,000 to $185,000 a year.

The release cites projections by Davis Pier: about C$2 billion in provincial GDP during construction, including about C$2.4 billion in direct construction spending in Nova Scotia; about C$137 million a year in provincial GDP at full operation; and about C$1.5 billion in provincial corporate income tax over the initial 20-year term. Those projections appear in EverWind’s release; they are not independent estimates.

The community benefit program is “valued in the tens of millions of dollars for the initial phase,” according to the release. CBC reported that no specific figure was given and that local communities and Anthropic would consult on how to spend it. EverWind also projects more than C$400 million in municipal tax revenue over the projects’ lives.

On ownership, the release says negotiations are underway with a First Nations consortium led by Membertou Development Corporation for a stake in the data centre campus, “subject to completion of the applicable agreements.” The Canadian Press and CBC both reported the stake under negotiation as 9%.

Membertou Chief Terry Paul was quoted in the release: “What we as a community can control is how we develop it safely, with responsibility to our resources.”

The politics

Politicians from every level of government were at the Point Tupper announcement, CBC reported. Anthropic was not there.

Premier Tim Houston said, according to Global News: “Canada doesn’t have enough compute power. We need more compute power in this country.” CBC reported him telling EverWind’s CEO, Trent Vichie: “Please don’t stop, keep moving, we’ll be here to support you in that.”

Houston’s own position has moved. Global News and The Canadian Press both reported that earlier this year he said serious data-centre talks were premature until major energy projects such as the proposed Wind West offshore wind farms were operating, and that he softened that stance in the months since.

The Canadian Press reported that Houston suggested his government does not plan to legislate new data-centre rules, pointing instead to existing environmental and industrial approvals. Global News quoted him: “There’s a very stringent process for industrial entities that set up in the province that doesn’t change.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender pushed back. The Canadian Press quoted her statement: “The Houston government is supporting this project without any discussion, consultation, legislation or regulations. The premier is saying people should just trust his word that Nova Scotians will be protected.” She told Global News: “If we want a private company to do the things that we need to support Nova Scotians, we must regulate that. Full stop.” The Logic reported that she questioned how the government would enforce the companies’ assurances.

The Ecology Action Centre said the project raises more questions than it answers, CBC reported. Thomas Arnason McNeil, the group’s policy advocate on grid decarbonization, told CBC: “There will need to be analysis and work that is done in terms of quantifying … the impact on ratepayers and understanding what the environmental impacts of the project will be.”

Richmond County Warden Lois Landry was positive, with conditions. In the release she said “there are still important details to work through.” Global News quoted her saying the county has been clear that a project of this scale “must address questions about electricity, water, environment, existing infrastructure with clear answers supported by sound technical evidence.”

Why Anthropic wants compute in Canada

Anthropic’s stated reason is demand. Canada is a large Claude market by Anthropic’s count, and Glick said the company wants its infrastructure “closer to the people who rely on it.”

The hiring started earlier. The Logic reported in August that Anthropic was hiring Canadian staff, including people to find and lease data-centre sites and secure electricity, and that a posting for a compute country lead described plans to bring “gigawatts of compute online in Canada.” The Globe and Mail reported the same “gigawatts of compute online” phrase from a job posting. In August, Glick posted on LinkedIn that Anthropic was hiring a Country Compute Lead and a Community Engagement Manager in Canada, writing that the community role “is about making sure that when Anthropic shows up in a place, we show up as a good neighbour.”

Measured against “gigawatts,” 95 MW is a first step. The full 420 MW campus would be less than half a gigawatt.

The deal also lands in a busy market. The Canadian Press listed BCE’s site near Regina, raised to 1.2 gigawatts last month; three data centres in British Columbia announced by Telus and the federal government in May; and Meta’s one-gigawatt campus north of Edmonton, announced in July. CBC said Point Tupper is still on the larger end of recently announced Canadian facilities.

The Canadian Press also listed recent opposition: a rally in Vancouver, a rejected project in Manitoba, an Alberta Utilities Commission denial of a gas plant meant to power a data centre in Olds, and one-year moratoriums in Oakville and Mississauga.

Analysis: what to watch

This section is CTN’s reading of the published material, not a statement by EverWind or Anthropic.

The grid study. The most important document has not been published. EverWind says the grid operator studied phase one and found room. The operator, asked by CBC, did not confirm that for this project. Until the study is public, the “existing infrastructure can support it” line is a company account of a third-party finding.

Curtailment in practice. A campus that can “reduce or stop drawing electricity from the grid” is useful to a grid operator only if the terms are written down: how fast, how often, for how long, and who calls it. Those terms will say more about ratepayer risk than the funding pledge does.

The schedule. Foundations before winter and power-on in late 2027 leaves about a year for a 95 MW hall in Cape Breton. Long-lead electrical equipment such as transformers and switchgear is a common schedule risk on builds like this. EverWind has not said what is on order.

The second phase. The 325 MW expansion has a target year and a list of conditions. It has no published tenant and no grid approval. It is targeted for 2028, while the wind farms meant to help supply it have no announced in-service date.

The cost line. “Attributable” costs will be defined in a regulatory process. That process will decide what ratepayers are actually protected from.

What is still open

  • Lease value and scope. Undisclosed. It is not public whether Anthropic has any right to the 325 MW expansion.
  • What 95 MW measures. IT load or facility draw is not stated.
  • Hardware. No chips, vendors or rack densities have been disclosed.
  • Grid study. Referenced by EverWind, not published, not confirmed by the operator to CBC.
  • Battery size. “Several hundred” MWh in the release; about 200 MWh per The Canadian Press.
  • Membertou stake. Under negotiation at a reported 9%.
  • Anthropic’s primary statement. Not found on Anthropic’s newsroom as of 18 October.

CTN has not contacted EverWind, Anthropic, the Independent Energy System Operator or the Nova Scotia government for this story. Quotes are taken from the sources listed below.

Sources

Related: Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund