New data centre could be developed at Wales

A proposal was recently made for Guyana’s first data centre to be developed at Wales, West Bank of Demerara. This was revealed by President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Monday at the commissioning of the De Kinderen Regional Hospital.

“Only [Sunday] I concluded with a team, the presentation on the first data centre that will be part of the Wales Development here,” the President announced.

The Head of State did not provide further details on the data centre but noted that the facility will position Guyana as a hub for healthcare provision, training, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

“You will be the region to have the first data centre working with academics and research institution on data analytics, artificial intelligence development and translational science, making Guyana the hub for healthcare provision, healthcare training, pharmaceuticals manufacturing and being part of the global ecosystem in delivering equitable health to the people of Guyana, the people of this region and the people of this world,” President Ali said.

The development comes as the country’s significant offshore gas reserves open doors to multiple industrial ventures. At the 2025 Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo, President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, highlighted opportunities to use the resources for refining bauxite into alumina, powering data centres, and supplying energy to fertiliser plants.

Already, about 50 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d) of gas will be supplied to the mega energy project at Wales, West Bank Demerara. The gas will be transported via a pipeline from the Liza project in the Stabroek Block.

A 300-megawatt (MW) power plant is being constructed in Wales; it will use natural gas from the Stabroek Block to generate cleaner, cheaper electricity. Additionally, a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) processing plant will treat the gas, removing liquids such as propane and butane for commercialisation.

At what ExxonMobil believes will be its eighth development, Longtail in the southeast portion of the Stabroek Block, about 1 to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day can be produced. And with that, Routledge said, comes the opportunity to pursue several ventures, be it alumina production or powering the data centres.