On 17 May 2024, the White Paper on Building Next Generation Data Center Facility in ASEAN, co-developed by the ASEAN Centre for Energy and Huawei, was released at the Global Data Center Facility Summit 2024 in Marina Bay Sands Convention Center, Singapore. The white paper aims to accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of the data centre industry in ASEAN.

Photo 1. ASEAN Centre for Energy and Huawei jointly released White Paper: Building Next Generation Data Center Facility 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. However, opportunities always come with challenges. 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, with local conditions in mind, ASEAN governments are promoting the application of renewable energy and energy conservation technologies to meet sustainability requirements for digital development.

Dr Nuki Agya Utama, Executive Director of ASEAN Centre for Energy 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.” These efforts in data centre industry can contribute to the regional energy efficiency goals of a 32% reduction in energy intensity by 2025, under the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) Phase II: 2021-2025.

Photo 2. Dr. Nuki Agya Utama, Executive Director of ASEAN Centre for Energy

During the summit, Dr Andy Tirta, Manager of Corporate Affairs Department at ACE delivered a keynote speech. Dr Andy said, “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.”

Photo 3. Dr. Andy Tirta, Manager of ACE

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, and operation and maintenance (O&M) to improve energy efficiency.

• Reliable: Modular design and artificial intelligence (AI) preventive maintenance help guarantee the safety and reliability of data centres at all levels, from components and equipment to systems. For example, compared with lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries have distinct advantages such as long service life, high energy density, and small installation footprint.
• Simplified: In response to the increasing scale and complexity of data centres, the architecture and systems should be minimalist through hardware convergence. For example, prefabricated and modular construction reduces the delivery period of a 1000-rack data centre from 18–24 months to 9 months and shortens the time to market (TTM) by 50%.
• Sustainable: Innovative products and solutions can be used to build energy-efficient and low-carbon data centres that are a benefit to society. For example, a high-temperature chilled water fan wall solution could be adopted in ASEAN to improve cooling efficiency and reduce the PUE and carbon emissions by increasing the inlet chilled water temperature.
• Smart: To address the O&M challenges of data centres, facility automation can be achieved with the help of digital and Al technologies. 3D visualisation, digital dashboards, and other technologies can be used to implement global intelligent management of data centre facilities.

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. Doing so will help reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions while cutting operating expenses. Carbon neutrality has become a global consensus. It is expected that the white paper could set the direction for the ASEAN region to build reliable, simplified, sustainable, and smart next-generation data centres. In addition, noting data centres as an emerging sector, this study can act as a basis for its inclusion in the next cycle of the APAEC for ASEAN Member States’ consideration.