SINGAPORE, Oct 27 — Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has pledged to connect approved data centres to the electricity grid within one year, as Malaysia strengthens its domestic network to keep pace with rising power demand and regional electricity connectivity.
TNB chief distribution network officer Ahmad Sazree Abd Aziz said strong domestic transmission and distribution networks are crucial to ensuring Malaysia benefits from the ASEAN Power Grid (APG).
“APG does help to strengthen the regional electricity security, but, at the same time, the real benefit from APG comes about from how strong is the domestic network, in particular, transmission and distribution,” he said during a panel titled “Strengthening Electricity Security through the APG” at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) here today.
Sazree said TNB must keep pace with growing electricity demand arising from economic growth, residential and commercial consumption, as well as energy-intensive data centres, while ensuring the network stays reliable and resilient.
He said three practical measures are important in preparing Malaysia’s electricity network for growing demand: demand forecasting, network capacity planning and targeted infrastructure development.
“For Malaysia, we do actually have pressure in terms of the data centre…. Once (data centres have) been approved by the ministry-chaired committee, we pledge to get data centres connected to the grid in one year’s time,” he said.
He said TNB must also ensure its distribution networks are modernised and digitalised to facilitate renewable energy interconnections at the distribution level.
He added that integrated demand and supply planning is essential to improve coordination between transmission and distribution networks, to allow the system to accommodate rising demand from data centres and the inclusion of renewable energy.
Sazree also said that aligning demand forecasts, infrastructure planning and investment priorities would ensure network development strengthens the entire electricity ecosystem.
