GE Vernova says gas will be key to fulfilling Mexico’s datacenter potential

If Mexico's incoming government does not start planning to build new gas-fired generation plants and power lines, the country risks missing out on the global datacenter boom, Marco Vera, CEO of GE Vernova's gas turbine business in Latin America, warned at a recent event.

President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum and her team will take office on October 1.

"There is massive potential for datacenters in Mexico," Vera said. "The key issue is planning. If we don’t think about how to supply energy to datacenters... with the reliability that they need, then we will be letting go of huge opportunities."

Speaking at an oil and gas conference in Mexico City organized by industry association Amexhi, Vera said that gas-fired power was the most suitable technology for providing electricity to datacenters, which require high levels of reliability from their energy suppliers. 

Compared to wind and solar farms, gas turbines provide more continuous power, and they also have high levels of inertia and keep rotating and generating power when there are failures in the grid, said Vera.

"The turbines are of such scale and size that they provide the inertia these projects require."

Mexico is also being held back by a lack of transmission and distribution capacity, according to Vera.

"There may be electricity generation in some places, but there is not the means to bring it to the users who need it," he said. 

"There are a lot of projects that are missing this last mile. Unfortunately, I’m certain that we’re going to lose investments."

Mexico should also invest in developing its geothermal resources and expand its nuclear power, said Vera. 

The country currently has around 1,000MW of geothermal capacity. Mexico's one operational nuclear power plant uses GE turbines.