Canal Flats is home to the Columbia Lake Technology Center
- Launched in 2018
- Dedicated to building a world-class rural Technology Innovation Centre with all the advantages of the big city and none of the disadvantages
- Two anchor companies: BID Group, and PodTech
- 70 employees
Opportunities: Digital currency, video rendering/CGI, artificial intelligence, edge computing, virtual reality, smart factories, automated mines and mills, un-manned aerial vehicles, distributed AI applications that require low latency and close proximity, co-work/remote work space, large scale greenhousing using PodTech excess heat.
For more information:
PodTech designs, builds, and operates the world’s most effective and efficient edge compute data centre infrastructure, featuring hydroelectric power supply.
The Columbia Lake Technology Center consists of:
- Fab Shop 1 – BID Group – create structural steel for North American forestry projects. 20 employees.
- Digital Fab Shop 2 – for modular data centres and data industry (PodTech).
- Modular Data Centre – optimized for efficiency with very large power and cooling capacity. 30 MW site.
- Headquarters – main office for Columbia Lake Technology Centre admin and project management.
- Future – District Heating and Cooling Loop – hot water from cooling modular data centre is sent to greenhouses and fab shops.
- Future – Technology Training Centre – for trades and tech training.
“At Podtech we got started on February 25, 2018 with a meeting of potential founders. With strong vision, experience and excitement they combined their diverse backgrounds and began building the Podtech team. Mid April, the #podfactory was under construction, and on May 1 we had our first render of the #MegaPod.
By June, BC Premier John Horgan has been onsite to offer his support at an Open House the launched the Columbia Lake Technology Center in Canal Flats. A MegaPod V2 refined and optimized design.
In September, after completing the work on the #podfactory, we had the final MegaPod design. A plan to scale to 300+ MW launched and the initial MegaPod (1 of 10 to be constructed and installed in Canal Flats) was being constructed on the factory floor.
As of mid-December, there are commitments for 30 MW of space, with an additional 3 MW of power available that PodTech is eager to onboard new customers.”
Greg Duerksen, Business and Product Development, PodTech
