SHAH ALAM, Oct 20 — Data centres in Peninsular Malaysia are set to need 8,391MW of electricity by 2030, said the Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry (PETRA).
It said Johor is expected to need the highest share at 4,428MW, followed by Selangor at 1,481MW, reflecting the two states’ roles as major data centre development hubs.
“Both of these states are key hubs for data centre development and will certainly require electricity supply infrastructure planning that aligns with the projected load growth,” said the ministry in a parliamentary written reply yesterday.
The ministry was responding to a question from Onn Abu Bakar (Harapan-Batu Pahat) on projected electricity and water demand by the data centre industry until 2030, particularly in Johor and Selangor, as well as the number of data centres that have been built.
PETRA said 45 data centres have been built and are operating in Peninsular Malaysia as of August.
“The centres have a combined electricity supply capacity of 6,041MW provided by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) through the national grid.”
It also revealed that water demand for data centre operations in Selangor and Johor is projected to reach 389.04 million litres per day (MLD) by 2030.
“However, at present, the actual volume of water consumption by data centres, as reported to the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), stands at 63.9MLD,” the ministry said.
The ministry added that the government has introduced regulatory measures and strategies to maintain electricity supply stability and ensure the data centre industry’s electricity demand and associated costs do not adversely affect domestic consumers and other industries.
It said it encourages operators to generate their own power and use backup generators with demand management mechanisms, especially during peak periods or when electricity supply reserves are low.
“The government also introduced an Ultra-High Voltage (UHV) tariff on July 1, 2025, for data centres receiving electricity at high- and extra-high voltage levels.
“This is to ensure infrastructure investment costs are recovered more fairly without placing an additional burden on domestic consumers,” it said.
PETRA added that the government has increased the Connected Load Charge (CLC) to encourage data centres to use their requested electricity capacity efficiently and prevent unused capacity from going to waste.
“Data centres are also required to source at least 30 per cent of their energy from renewable energy sources through initiatives such as the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS) and the Solar for Self-Consumption (SELCO) programme,” it said.
