KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s status as Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing data centre hub will not only spur the growth of the digital economy but also be a catalyst in the nation’s transition towards renewable energy (RE).
Dr Jasrul Jamani Jamian, associate professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Electrical Engineering Faculty, said the inflow of data centre players to Malaysia helps the government in optimising the country’s existing electricity generation capacity.
At the same time, he said, it will be a driver in realising the government’s efforts towards an RE generation capacity target of 70% or 56 gigawatts in the energy sector by 2050.
From 2021 to 2023, Malaysia approved investments worth RM114.7 billion in data centre and cloud services.
It was also reported recently that Moody’s Ratings projected the power requirement for data centres in Malaysia to double to about 500 megawatts in the next two years.
“It’s high time for power generation using natural resources such as coal and gas, especially those that have been operational for 25 to 30 years, to be replaced with RE, which is more efficient and environmentally friendly,” Jasrul Jamani said
He said that in expanding electricity generation, there is a significant need to transition towards RE from low-efficiency operations.
”The government is already moving in that direction, such as through the implementation of the Fifth Large-Scale Solar (LSS5) programme currently and the upcoming LSS6,” he said.
He noted that under the National Energy Transition Roadmap, with the high RE penetration, the country will require a large energy storage capability to ensure a stable RE dispatch.
He said the development of a large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) using state-of-the-art technology is in line with the rise in RE capacity.
BESS, he said, will ensure that no energy supply disruption affects data centre operations.
Jasrul Jamani said BESS will also help data centre operators reduce electricity bill costs by storing energy outside peak hours and using it during peak hours.
“Therefore, the development of data centres in Malaysia is in tandem with national efforts to transition from conventional power generation to RE generation,” he said. He said that setting up more data centres in Malaysia will bring revenue gains for Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) as the data centre industry requires a high and continuous supply of electricity.
According to him, TNB’s system has excellent stability and capability level for meeting the needs of all consumers, including data centres, based on its projected power reserve margin of 28% to 36% in Peninsular Malaysia from 2024 to 2030. — Bernama
