Kirkland & Ellis has advised Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners on its acquisition from OPTrust, Kineticor Asset Management’s majority shareholder, of a 47.5% ownership interest in Greenlight Electricity Centre, together with MSIP’s investment in and positive final investment decision on the Alberta power project.
The 7 July 2026 mandate gives Kirkland a high-value role in a transaction shaped by private infrastructure capital, artificial intelligence demand and North American power supply constraints.
Greenlight Electricity Centre is planned as a 932-megawatt gas-fired combined cycle power generation facility in Sturgeon County, within the Alberta Industrial Heartland. Morgan Stanley Investment Management said MSIP is investing alongside Pembina Pipeline Corporation and Kineticor to support construction, with MSIP and Pembina each holding 47.5% and Kineticor holding the remaining 5%.
The project is expected to supply electricity under a long-term agreement to a major data centre development customer building a co-located campus. Morgan Stanley said Greenlight is expected to use high-efficiency combined-cycle gas turbine technology and begin supplying power in the second half of 2030.
Pembina will act as construction and operations manager, while Kineticor, the developer behind Greenlight, will continue to provide construction support. Kirkland’s release describes the total expected project cost as $4.6 billion, although Pembina and market reporting frame the figure as C$4.6 billion, including financing costs.
Kirkland’s team included corporate lawyers Rob Goodin, Allan Kirk, Daniel Cadis, Brad Johnson, Lauren Stelck, Brennon Nelson and Lucy Li; debt finance lawyers Rohit Chaudhry, Olivia George, Josh Ryu, Sarah Al Salem and Jessie Mann; tax lawyer Bill Dong; and energy regulatory lawyer Drew Stuyvenberg.
Santander acted as exclusive M&A and financing adviser to MSIP, with Kirkland & Ellis and Bennett Jones acting as legal counsel to MSIP.
Solicitors and in-house counsel should read the deal as a sign that data centre-linked power projects now pull acquisition terms, financing, offtake risk, tax structuring, construction governance and energy regulation into the same legal timetable. Barristers may see later disputes where delivery obligations, permitting, grid connection, fuel supply, tolling terms or delay risk become contested once construction moves from announcement to execution.
Kirkland mandate shows how AI-related power demand is pushing energy infrastructure work across corporate, finance, tax and regulatory teams.
Legal practitioners advising sponsors, utilities, lenders or data centre customers should test whether project documents allocate construction, financing, regulatory and offtake risk clearly enough before positive investment decisions become binding delivery commitments.