Proposed 400-acre Fort Erie data centre would consume 87,000 homes worth of power
June 18, 2026 at 4:50 AM
A Toronto developer is marketing 400 acres of former Fort Erie farmland to data centre companies for a “mega site” projected to consume more than twice Fort Erie’s total electricity use.
Velocity1 Group says the site could consume more than 65 million kilowatt-hours a month. That equals the monthly electricity use of about 87,000 typical Ontario homes, based on the Ontario Energy Board’s residential benchmark of 750 kilowatt-hours a month–or roughly two homes’ worth of electricity for every person who lives in Fort Erie.
The power usage claim comes from Velocity1’s own public marketing material on its website.
The Town of Fort Erie has not confirmed a data centre proposal, and says it has received no formal application or pre-consultation request for one.
“At this time, we have not received either a formal application or a pre-consultation request related to a data centre proposal,” the Town of Fort Erie told Fort Erie Radio in an emailed response.
The 400-acre parcel identified by Velocity1 sits west of the QEW, between Bowen and Gilmore roads, north of Garrison Road.
Velocity1 says it spent 16 years assembling the Fort Erie parcel, banking on its proximity to the U.S. border and Niagara’s renewable energy infrastructure.
No planning application, zoning change or power-connection filing appeared in public records checked in May, according to the Ontario Data Centre Tracker, an independent public database. The tracker classifies the site as “pre-application.”
Velocity1’s website says it’s pitching the land to developers for data centres, logistics, cold storage, battery manufacturing and bonded warehousing.
Velocity1 also says the Fort Erie lands remain under active discussion with Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade to attract global manufacturing clients.
Fort Erie Radio asked the ministry and Niagara Economic Development about those discussions and received no response before publication.
Proposed data centres have triggered public fights elsewhere in Ontario.
Hamilton councillors voted 9-0 on Tuesday to pursue a one-year moratorium on data centre development.
More than 40 residents spoke at the Hamilton planning meeting. Several delegates called for a total ban.
Ontario keeps no central public registry of proposed data centre sites. The province also does not require data centre operators to publicly report site-level energy or water use.
Any data centre on the Fort Erie land would need municipal zoning approval before construction. No such application has been filed.
EDITOR’S NOTE | June 18, 2026 @ 9:09 a.m.: An earlier version of this story stated the proposed site is east of the QEW; it is west.
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About The Author
Andrew Hawlitzky
Andrew is a Niagara community journalist who has covered everything from local politics to annual festivals and breaking news. He works to make local news a platform where community voices lead the conversation. "If you don't like the news, go out and make some!"
Remember, it doesn’t actually bring jobs when they bring their own contracted construction workers to build it, and then overseas workers to run it, unless Fort Erie has a bunch of secret AI engineers looking for work.
LOL really. Fort Erie cannot keep the power on to its existing 15000 homes. Or keep the water mains from bursting open. The infrastructure for this does not exist
Fight it !! Only jobs it will provide are the initial construction and installation jobs. Then a couple maintenance, security and contracted grounds keepers. This while using massive amounts of our resources.
Took them 16 years to accumulate the 400 acres. Sounds like the pipe-dreamer from the speedway with a name that means speed, Velocity
Nothing to fight just yet–nothing has been proposed, no consultation with the town. But the overwhelming feedback we’ve received here at the station is that Fort Erie residents are firmly opposed to this.
NOPE.
Gonna keep an eye on this. Gotta keep the pressure on the town to not allow it.
No no no !!