Proposed investments in data centres, artificial intelligence infrastructure and strategic metals production have sparked debate among economists, with critics questioning the potential costs and risks while supporters argue they represent an important opportunity to diversify Trinidad and Tobago’s economy.On July 10, the Government signed three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with leading United States organisations to explore the proposed projects.
Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon
Prof Winston Dookeran
According to the Government, the initiatives could attract more than US$5 billion in investment over the coming years and create in excess of 5,000 jobs.Economist Mariano Browne identified five key concerns associated with the proposed projects in comments to Express Business: high energy demand and emissions, significant water consumption and potential groundwater risks, carbon-intensive construction, electronic waste disposal, and exposure to climate-related hazards.“It is not clear that data centres are consistent with the development needs of a small island developing state,” said Browne.Browne said a 300-megawatt (MW) data centre would rank among the larger facilities globally, surpassing the size of most existing hyperscale data centres and positioning it at the upper end of today’s AI infrastructure developments.“Although companies such as Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft and Google are now announcing gigawatt-scale AI campuses, a 300-MW facility remains large enough to place T&T among the notable AI infrastructure locations worldwide if successfully completed. The second project is half the size of the first,” said Browne.
