BUZZ HPC, a company that plans a C$3.5bn, 320MW AI campus in Oakville, Ontario, says local taxpayers will not pay for the electricity grid work it needs. The claim comes from Craig Tavares, BUZZ’s President and COO, in an interview with Capacity, published on 9 October 2026 [1]. No application has been filed and nothing is approved.
Reported (company statements in a trade-press interview).
What the company says
Capacity reports that BUZZ “will privately fund the electrical connection, transformer infrastructure, required grid expansions and a new fibre-optic backbone”. Tavares told Capacity: “None of those costs will fall on municipal taxpayers or be recovered through a project-specific increase to residential electricity rates.” [1]
BUZZ would connect to the provincial transmission grid, the high-voltage network, rather than Oakville’s local distribution system. The transformer station, the site that steps high voltage down for use, would be on BUZZ’s own property. BUZZ also says closed-loop liquid cooling, where the same coolant circulates in a sealed system, means no continuous municipal water supply is needed for cooling [1].
Tavares said: “We want residents to be able to check our commitments for themselves.” Expected electricity demand and grid impacts would come with a formal application, but he did not commit to publishing the grid connection agreement [1].
The timing problem
Oakville has imposed a moratorium, a temporary ban on new applications, on data centres. It runs until August 2027 and can be extended to two years in total. That puts pressure on BUZZ’s target of operations in the second half of 2027, Capacity says. Projected water use and noise levels have not been published [1].
The site is 3480 Ninth Line, about 25 acres, according to Oakville News and OakvilleIQ. OakvilleIQ describes BUZZ HPC as a subsidiary of HIVE Digital Technologies [2][3].
What this does not show
- An application or an approval. None has been filed, and nothing is approved [1][2].
- Any independent check. These are the company’s claims. TSN has not seen a cost study, a grid connection agreement or any regulator document.
- Who pays in practice. OakvilleIQ lists who would pay for any grid connection as unanswered [3].
- Water or noise impact. The figures have not been published [1].
Sources
- Saf Malik, “BUZZ’s Tavares: Oakville taxpayers won’t pay grid costs for C$3.5bn, 320MW AI campus”, Capacity, 9 October 2026 (interview; company statements; read in full 11 October 2026). https://capacityglobal.com/news/buzzs-tavares-oakville/
- Kim Arnott, “Burton says proposed 320-MW Oakville data centre won’t draw from local power supply”, Oakville News, 29 September 2026 (local news report). https://www.oakvillenews.org/local-news/potential-oakville-data-centre-will-not-draw-from-local-power-supply-says-burton-12833387
- OakvilleIQ Newsroom, “A 320 MW AI data centre is proposed for Oakville”, 4 October 2026 (local news report). https://oakvilleiq.ca/news/oakville-data-centre-320-mw-grid/
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