data centre

SINGAPORE: The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and Huawei co-developed the ‘White Paper on Building Next Generation Data Center Facility in ASEAN’, that was released at Global Data Center Facility Summit 2024 in Singapore. The white paper aims to accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of the data centre industry in ASEAN. Driven by global digitalisation, digital transformation is booming in the ASEAN region. Massive data and huge computing demands have emerged, unlocking great potential in the data centre market. Due to the tropical climates of the ASEAN region, data centres feature high cooling requirements, high energy consumption, and power usage effectiveness (PUE) values far higher than the global average. Therefore, ASEAN governments are promoting the application of renewable energy and energy conservation technologies. ACE Executive Director, Nuki Agya Utama stated, “The white paper reflects on challenges in data centre installations and operations, as well as a comprehensive discussion on the matter of technology trends and ways to address energy consumption, cost savings, and environmental responsibility. “Moreover, it provides policy recommendations for data centre markets, both mature and emerging markets, for the development of data centres.” During the summit, ACE Head of Corporate Affairs, Andy Tirta delivered a keynote speech, “Beyond the renewable energy to support energy security in the ASEAN region, energy efficiency is the lowest hanging fruit that could be achieved by introducing advanced technology and innovation, enabling supportive financing mechanisms, policies and regulations, including the standardisation of the regional target.” The white paper summarises the four characteristics of next-generation data centres as reliable, simplified, sustainable, and smart. It calls for using efficient and energy-saving products and solutions in data centre design, development operation and maintenance to improve energy efficiency. Reliable: Reliable operation is the cornerstone of a data centre. Modular design and AI preventive maintenance are helpful in guaranteeing the safety and reliability of data centres at all levels, from components and equipment to systems. Simplified: In response to the increasing scale and complexity of data centres, the architecture and systems should be minimalist through hardware convergence. Sustainable: Innovative products and solutions can be used to build energy-efficient and low-carbon data centres that are a benefit to society. Smart: To address the O&M challenges of data centres, facility automation can be achieved with the help of digital and Al technologies. According to the white paper, utilising clean energy to power data centres is a good way of reducing carbon emissions. It recommends that ASEAN governments implement discounted electricity rates or tax breaks for data centre operators that use clean energy as their main power source. Additionally, carbon neutrality has become a global consensus. The white paper sets the direction for the ASEAN region to build reliable, simplified, sustainable, and smart next-generation data centres. Huawei will work with the ASEAN Centre for Energy to jointly accelerate the low-carbon and intelligent transformation across the data centre industry in the ASEAN region, contributing to a sustainable future.