KUALA LUMPUR: Cumulative energy savings during the implementation of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) to date is 39,382 Gigawatt hours (GWh) equivalent to RM10.5 billion, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA).
According to the ministry, until December 2023, the annual energy saving rate that has been achieved is 5.9% or 8,667 GWh which is worth more than RM2.11 billion.
PETRA said energy users including data centre operators who use electricity equivalent to or exceeding 3 million kilowatt hours in 6 consecutive months are subject to the Efficient Management of Electrical Energy Regulations 2008 (EMEER 2008).
“To date, there are 22 data centres regulated under EMEER, of which 20 data centres are located in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, one data centre in Penang and one data centre in Johor Bahru,” said the ministry in a written reply to Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah’s (BN-Paya Besar) question regarding actions to promote energy efficiency in data centre operations and electricity and water reserve margins.
The ministry said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission as the regulatory agency related to data centres is developing a technical code regarding green data centre specifications.
The code addresses energy usage to improve energy efficiency in data centres and at the same time reduce carbon emissions from the sub-sector.
Meanwhile, PETRA is also finalising the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill to strengthen the legal framework related to energy efficiency.
“When this act is enforced on the industrial, commercial and residential sectors including data centres later, the government expects the national energy consumption savings until 2050 to reach 2,017 million Gigajoules equivalent to RM97.1 billion with a reduction in carbon emissions of 197,877 kilotonnes of CO2, it said.
Meanwhile, to ensure that the projected electricity supply margin reserve is always at least at the minimum level of 25% due to the entry of data centres into the country, the Planning and Implementation Committee for Electricity Supply and Tariff (JPPPET) on 24 May 2024 has approved the Peninsular Malaysia Electricity Supply Development Plan 2024-2050 to ensure the security of electricity supply can be met.
As an immediate mitigation plan, the JPPPET meeting also identified that several power plants will have their operating periods extended to ensure the security of electricity supply due to the inclusion of the data centres.
“For the long term, additional new generation capacity of 70MW in 2030 and 2.8GW between 2031-2034 has been planned in the Peninsular Malaysia Electricity Supply Development Plan 2024-2050,” it said.
As for the water reserve margin, PETRA said the National Water Services Commission recommends a comfortable reserve margin of between 10% and 15%.
In 2023, the average margin reserve of treated water for Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan is 14.7%.
“Based on this record, the margin reserve for treated water supply remains stable to support increased data centre investments into the country,” it added.
— BERNAMA
