Malaysia's data centre push sparks concern over power, water usage

It could strain supplies in the coming years, particularly in industrialised states: Experts

- Zunaira Saieed

Malaysia’s drive to attract data centre investments worth billions of dollars could strain its water and electricity supplies in the coming years, say experts, particularly in industrialised states like Selangor and Johor.

Potential electricity demand from data centres is expected to hit over 5,000 megawatts by 2035, estimates national electricity company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB). Data centre capacity is measured by the megawatts (MW) of electricity they consume.

Interest in new data centres, however, is far higher, with TNB having received applications for supply exceeding 11,000MW, according to a recent Affin Hwang Capital research report. This represents just over 40 per cent of Peninsular Malaysia’s existing installed power-generation capacity of about 27,000MW.

Meanwhile, a data centre with a capacity of 100MW uses about 1.1 million gallons of water per day for cooling, according to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This is the equivalent of daily water usage for a city of 10,000 people.

Malaysia’s main water regulator, the National Water Services Commission, said in March that the country could face widespread water shortages in the next five years due to climate change, wastage and ageing infrastructure.

The government should implement policies to address the high energy and water usage by data centres, UOB Kay Hian Research analyst Chong Lee Len told The Straits Times.