Calgary-based energy firm TC Energy is seeking opportunities for growth in North America following rapid data center growth in the continent.

First reported in Global News, the company said on August 1 that it is uniquely poised to capitalize on the expansion of data centers in North America, being built by the likes of Microsoft, Google, and AWS.

Stan Chapman, executive vice president and COO, said that more than 300 data centers are currently in the pipeline in the US. More than 60 percent of these are within 80km of TC Energy’s existing natural gas pipeline.

He said: “We’re seeing a shift in site preferences from regions where big telecom infrastructure is in place to regions where energy and supply infrastructure is in place.”

Chapman added that a growing number of data center operators are interested in building and owning their own on-site power, generating capacity to address electricity needs.

The company also said its footprint is not limited to the US, with Chapman suggesting that power demand in Canada could increase by one to two gigawatts by the end of the decade and hinting at potential opportunities in Mexico.

Francois Poirier, CEO at TC Energy, said: “Never have I seen such strong prospects for North American natural gas demand growth. We are seeing natural gas demand reach record highs and this is expected to grow by nearly 40 billion cubic feet per day by 2035.

Earlier this month, TC Energy announced it had agreed to sell a minority stake in its Western Canadian NGTL and Foothills natural gas transmission network to a consortium of Indigenous communities for $720 million. The deal is said to be Canada’s largest-ever Indigenous equity ownership agreement.

TC Energy has been selling off assets to help pay down its debt.

On its website, the energy firm said it has 93,300km of natural gas pipeline and more than 653 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage in Canada, the US, and Mexico.

The company also has 4,900km of oil and gas pipelines, supplying Alberta crude oil to US markets.