January 12, 2026 | By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson for Canada’s National Observer
Kevin O'Leary, the pugilistic reality TV star and investor, arrives to testify before the Senate Banking Committee about cryptocurrency on Dec. 14, 2022. O'Leary's appears to have backed off from using geothermal to power his proposed data centre in Alberta. Photo by: J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press
Catherine Hickson was just beginning to accept that her dream of building Alberta's first geothermal power plant was probably dead — then hope appeared out of the blue.
For nearly eight years, the University of British Columbia volcanologist and geothermal energy consultant had done everything she could to build the facility. Her company, Alberta No. 1, had spent more than two years pushing the province to finalize its geothermal leasing rules, then secured the geothermal rights adjacent to the Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG), an industrial park three municipalities were developing south of Grand Prairie, AB.
The company had completed feasibility research and obtained a federal renewable energy loan to help get the project built. But despite her efforts, she still needed at least one investor to jump in on the project and match the loan before the government would disburse it and she could start building the power plant — and the deadline to find one had nearly passed.
"We thought, very naively, that the project would be a shoo-in for anybody who was planning to develop on the GIG," she said.
The situation was so dire that on November 1 2024, she sent an email to Kyle Reiling, the GIG's executive director, telling him she was "working with our lawyers to shutter the company, having been unsuccessful at vending the project or obtaining capital investment … therefore would you please remove any reference to [Alberta No. 1] from the GIG website."
Reiling responded: "Very unfortunate news. Thanks for the update. Regards."
Canada's National Observer found the email in a trove of documents about the project obtained through a freedom of information request.
"An operating geothermal field is really a fabulous thing," said geothermal entrepreneur Catherine Hickson. But she's struggled to build a geothermal power plant in her home province and outcompete gas.
A few days later she sent a follow up email, telling Reiling that "if some 'faint hope' were to emerge in the next six to eight weeks, we might be able to salvage the project. What we need is a [redacted] commitment … [redacted] is willing to give up control and the majority share (including selling the project) if an investor can be found. With all the subsurface work done, this is a 'drill bit' ready project."
A few weeks later, her prayers seemed to be answered: Kevin O'Leary — aka Mr. Wonderful, the pugilistic reality TV star — published a press release announcing he would build "the world's largest data centre" in the GIG. The $70 billion project would be named Wonder Valley and gobble 75 per cent as much electricity as the entire province. And it would generate all its own power — in part with geothermal energy.
"We were super excited,"she recalled. Her company, on the brink of death, controlled all of the geothermal resources in the area. "We immediately reached out to them."
Her excitement would be short-lived, however — and what she learned in the process would go a long way to explaining the much more likely intention driving Wonder Valley.
'A fabulous thing'
Hickson's path to pitching geothermal power to Mr. Wonderful started decades ago in BC's coast mountains.
The world was deep in the 1970s oil crisis and soaring fuel costs had pushed the federal government to investigate geothermal power as an alternative to gas. Hickson, then a student, got a job with the Geological Survey of Canada to drill test wells in the ancient volcanoes encircling Pemberton and Whistler, BC.
"It was amazing to drill these wells — lots of steam and hot water," she said. "I love volcanoes, and I love hot geothermal."
She stayed with the agency for years, completing her PhD research studying the peaks near the province's Wells Grey park and afterwards returning to the Pemberton area to help build a small geothermal power plant near Mt. Meager, one of Canada's most active volcanoes.
Around 2008, she left the agency and started consulting for geothermal power projects in places including Iceland, Italy and South America. Once again, gas prices were hot and geothermal power was cool. Investors and governments were interested in geothermal power and she was eager to help the industry grow.
"An operating geothermal field is really a fabulous thing," she said. "They have a small footprint. They produce a huge amount of energy … what's not to like?"
Hickson — who is from Edmonton — wanted to see geothermal power in her home province.
Alberta is nicknamed the world capital of geothermal fluid among geothermal experts because the oil and gas industry extracts vast amounts of hot water, she said. Despite this, the province's abundant cheap gas meant investors turned towards gas-powered systems, which are cheaper upfront to build.
She got her chance in the mid-2010s. Her brother knew the municipal district of Greenview's then-reeve, Dale Gervais. Gervais was laying the groundwork for what would become the GIG and was interested in developing geothermal power as a "plan B" to help the district phase out fossil fuels. He asked Hickson to be the person to make it happen, she recalled.
In 2019, Natural Resources Canada gave Hickson's company a $25.4 million loan to "demonstrate geothermal power as a viable and reliable power source and, complemented by existing power sources, how it can play a major role in phasing out coal."
Alberta No. 1 would "provide Alberta’s power grid with clean, renewable energy" and "build a foundation for the next generation of innovative technologies and systems,” said Amarjeet Sohi, then the federal minister of natural resources. But while helpful, Hickson and her team needed at least one more investor to match the government's loan.
They also needed the Alberta government to give them permission to drill geothermal wells — a permitting system the province hadn't created yet. Writing those rules and issuing the company its permit took more than two years; when they finally received it, in 2023, all the project's initial investors had scattered. That left Alberta No. 1 in limbo and waiting for another company to set up shop in the GIG with a need for the would-be facility's geothermal power, said Hickson.
"Whenever a potential prospective tenant approached the municipal district of Greenview or the GIG, they would let us know," she said. "One was going to make ammonia. One was going to make hydrogen but we were never able to conclude a deal. And then comes Kevin O'Leary and the Wonder Valley."
'Gas is the solution'
Hours after O'Leary announced Wonder Valley, on Dec. 9, 2024, Hickson wrote Reiling, the GIG's executive director, jubilant her geothermal project might be saved.
"It seems that our 'faint hope' dreams might have been answered. Congratulations!" she said. But Hickson was confused. "The press release mentions geothermal — but no one from the development group has been in touch with us … how do I make contact to move this forward?" she wrote.
Reiling's response was brief: O'Leary's company was "exploring geothermal potential, but [isn't] there yet … I will make an introduction once they get to that point," he wrote. But the documents Canada's National Observer obtained through FOI suggest the company's interest in geothermal was never serious.
On Dec. 13, Reiling emailed Luca Bidini, then an account executive with the PR company Mediaplanet who was helping the GIG place a sponsored article about Wonder Valley in the National Post. Reiling asked Bidini to "remove the reference to geothermal" in the feature. The published article doesn't mention geothermal power.
In an email to Canada's National Observer, Reiling said that questions about geothermal use in Wonder Valley should be directed to the company.
When Hickson eventually talked to O'Leary's team after the announcement, she said it "didn't take very long before it was clear they hadn't actually thought about their energy plan."
"They hadn't done their homework. They hadn't looked at what the energy market was in Alberta — there aren't hundreds of megawatts in excess available on the grid," she said. She has not heard from them since, but emphasized she would still like to work on geothermal with the company, if they were interested.
Canada's National Observer reached out to Wonder Valley through its contact form and emailed Nancy Cheung, managing director of branding and public relations for the O'Leary Financial Group and O'Leary ventures, but didn't receive a response.
In a late December 2024 interview with the National Post, O'Leary laid out his vision for powering Wonder Valley (and argued for an "economic union" with Trump's America). It didn't include geothermal power. "We have to find either nuclear power, which isn't going to be ready for 15 years and it's very expensive, or stranded gas that was going to be flared off and instead, get it into clean turbines and make electricity," he said.
Almost a year later, in November 2025, the federal government and Alberta signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that promises the province will build "thousands of megawatts of AI computing power" and bolster the province's grid to "meet the needs of AI data centres." The province is aiming to attract $100 billion in data centre investments within five years.
The agreement includes exemptions for the province from federal Clean Electricity Rules, which would otherwise make it difficult for data centres to build gas generators if they are connected to the provincial grid. Data centres that generate their own power from gas but don't feed into the grid, like Wonder Valley, fall under industrial carbon pricing rules.
Alberta has its own industrial carbon pricing system, but it currently doesn't meet the minimum federal carbon price. The MOU gives both governments until April 1, 2026 to negotiate a deal.
But whether gas is actually more affordable and reliable than renewables — including geothermal — is unclear.
"Gas is marketed as cheaper upfront," said Will Noel, a senior analyst with the Pembina Institute's electricity team. "But then, it's got more input fuel costs … and the price of that fuel is volatile and goes up and down with the global market."
Gas-powered turbines are also in short supply thanks to the AI boom, with manufacturers managing years-long waitlists.
And gas comes with a hefty climate cost: If Wonder Valley is entirely powered by natural gas and doesn't capture any of its carbon emissions, it would set Canada back 20 years in emissions reductions and wipe out all the emissions reductions gained by phasing out coal, Noel said.
Renewables such as wind, solar and battery storage don't have that problem — wind and sunlight are clean. The cost of renewables has also plummeted. Solar power now costs 88 per cent less than in 2009 and the cost of onshore wind dropped by 26 per cent — and both cost less per MWh than gas.
An October analysis by the Cascade Institute, a research centre based at Royal Roads University, found that emerging geothermal power generation is "already competitive" with gas (at current prices) and nuclear power for baseload electricity generation in northern BC and Alberta, as well as the NWT. Onshore wind and battery storage is slightly cheaper, while solar power and storage costs about the same as geothermal.
On top of geothermal heat, Alberta is blessed with abundant sunshine and wind. The primary reason gas power generation is more reliable than renewables — and thus can secure financing — is because the provincial government is bolstering the gas industry while simultaneously implementing "a whole combination" of hurdles to renewables, Noel said.
In a year-end interview with the Calgary Herald, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith claimed "the big thing about data centres is they cannot rely on intermittent power. … If you want to move quickly, all roads lead to natural gas.”
O'Leary has also consistently made clear his belief in gas power, for instance telling Fox News in May that "gas is the solution."
Regardless of O'Leary's plans, Hickson said she's still trying to make Alberta No. 1 a reality.
"We're desperately trying again to revive the project and find an investor,"she said. "We need someone who is interested and who is not risk-averse."
She said they do have one shred of hope, though she couldn't divulge more details because of confidentiality restrictions. Geothermal can complement Alberta's natural gas industry, she argued, by letting the province maximize its natural gas exports and simultaneously power a data centre boom.
"I've been in this business for so long I've seen the ups and the downs. I've lived through lots of heartbreaks, but I remain an optimistic person," she said. "I keep hoping that we will be able to make the case clearly for all Canadians that geothermal is an option."