Countries / Crown Dependencies
Guernsey
Guernsey has a small commercial data centre base and is only now working out whether it wants more, with no incentives or restrictions on compute found.
Guernsey has at least one commercial colocation facility run by Sure, and its government runs two small public-sector data centres. In July 2026 the Economic Development Committee's work plan was reported as setting out to form a policy position on whether local data-centre infrastructure is needed for data sovereignty and AI-enabled services. We found no published capacity target, site, power plan or incentive, and no law aimed at data centres or AI. Most electricity is imported from France by cable, and a columnist has pointed out that a single 25MW facility would be roughly 58% of current island demand. For someone seeking compute, treat Guernsey as a place for small-scale, regulated colocation rather than AI-scale capacity.
AI policy and activity
No AI-specific law or strategy was found. The Office of the Data Protection Authority has published guidance on how the Bailiwick data protection law applies to AI systems that use personal data. The Economic Development Committee's 2026 to 2029 work plan was reported as including work on whether Guernsey could become a centre for AI, data governance, digital identity and digital finance, and on data trusts. The reports we read give no figures for compute.
Power and grid
Guernsey Electricity is the sole commercial supplier. A Wikipedia summary reports 2022 peak demand of 95MW and about 92% of electricity imported by cable (Guernsey is linked to France through the Channel Islands Electricity Grid via Jersey), with a 2023 plan for a direct 100MW cable to France and some local renewables; we have not checked those against the utility's own documents. A columnist calculated that a 25MW data centre would use about 219GWh a year against about 380GWh of island use today. No data centre connection policy was found.
Connectivity
A 2019 trade report listed five subsea systems serving Guernsey: UK-Channel Islands-7, Channel Islands-9 Liberty (JT), HUGO (Sure and Vodafone), Guernsey-Jersey-4 and the INGRID/CIEG power-and-fibre cable, with routes to the UK, Jersey and France. It said CI-4 and CI-7 were at end of life and that Sure planned a 300Gbps upgrade. Three Guernsey cables were reported cut in November 2016 with traffic rerouted. Current state not re-checked.
Data centres and compute
| Site | Where | Status | Notes and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sure Guernsey data centre Sure | St Peter Port | Operating | Sure's undated data sheet describes a Tier III site with 4 data halls, 288 racks, 3,000 square metres in total and 2MW of IT load, with N+1 generators and dual fibre entry. Sure lists ISO 27001, ISO 22301 and PCI-DSS Level 1 for its Jersey and Guernsey data centres. Figures are the operator's own. (source) |
| States of Guernsey public-sector data centres Hosted with JT and Logicalis; built with Agilisys | Guernsey | Operating | Two facilities, one Tier 1 and one Tier 2, reported as operational in September 2020 to replace ageing government IT and to run Microsoft Azure Stack. They serve government, not the open market. (source) |
Rules and programmes
| Instrument | Kind | Status | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Development Committee work plan 2026 to 2029 | Policy | In force | Published late July 2026. We have not read the work plan itself. A Bailiwick Express opinion column of 30 July 2026 quotes it as exploring 'data-centre infrastructure to support data sovereignty and AI enabled services'; a separate summary site reports a stated aim of up to GBP 150 million a year of extra growth from digital adoption. Treat as intention, not a decision. |
| Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2017 and ODPA guidance on artificial intelligence | Law | In force | The regulator's AI guidance applies the seven data protection principles to AI systems, points to impact assessments for high-risk uses such as automated profiling, and notes 72-hour breach notification. It applies across the whole Bailiwick, including Alderney. |
Checked on 2 October 2026 and due for review by 1 January 2027. Many sources are trade press or law-firm summaries rather than official texts, and statuses such as reported or unconfirmed are shown as the source gives them. This is a summary, not legal advice. If something is wrong or out of date, tell us.