CALGARY, ALTA. — Pipeline and power company TC Energy Corp. is looking to capitalize on the insatiable electricity demand from U.S. data centres, but it’s focused on tweaking its existing system to meet those needs instead of building from scratch.
“Our strategy has been very intentional to capture this growth without increasing our risk exposure,” CEO François Poirier told analysts on a recent conference call.
“Our primary focus is on brownfield in-corridor expansions that leverage our existing footprint to primarily serve investment-grade utility customers, particularly in regions where we hold long-standing incumbent positions.”
TC’s infrastructure is located near 60 per cent of projected U.S. data centre growth, Poirier said.
TC has pitched an expansion to its Columbia Gas Transmission system to serve an area of Ohio that’s seeing significant development of data centres — the enormous facilities that house the computing firepower for artificial intelligence and other applications. Such operations require massive amounts of energy to run the machinery and keep them cool.
The Calgary-based company offered customers a total of 500,000 mmbtu per day of capacity during an open season that wrapped up last month. It garnered bids representing triple that amount.
TC is also looking to expand its Crossroads Pipeline system by up to 1.5 million mmbtu a day, serving markets in northern Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota where there is also significant anticipated data centre growth.
For potential power generation investments, TC is more interested in plants that would serve the overall grid instead of linking up exclusively with a data centre customer.
“We really are focusing in front of the meter with our utility customers,” Poirier said.
“To the extent a data centre wants to get service directly for gas and is willing to provide a long-term contract that is consistent with what we get from the utility customers, we will, of course, contemplate those. We’re not looking at any power project development and ownership behind the meter at this time.”
TC is projecting $6 billion in net annual capital expenditures through 2030 — possibly higher than that toward the end of the decade. It’s also anticipating North American natural gas demand will grow by 45 million mmbtu a day by 2035.
TC also reported fourth-quarter net income of $959 million, down from $1.07 billon the same quarter the year prior.
Earnings worked out to 92 cents per share in the quarter ending Dec. 31, down from $1.03 per share.
Revenue totalled $4.17 billion for the quarter, up from $3.58 billion in the same quarter the year before.
TC says its comparable earnings amounted to 98 cents per share, down from $1.05 per share in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 92 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG Data & Analytics.
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