BDC signs renewable energy deal with TNB for new Johor data centre

Details: John Tanner; Category: Data Centres & Networks; 02 December 2024; 6654 views

Southeast Asian data centre operator Bridge Data Centres (BDC) says it has signed an electricity supply agreement (ESA) with Malaysian energy company TNB to supply renewable energy for its planned hyperscale data centre in Johor.

Under the ESA and a bilateral energy supply contract signed on Friday, TNB will supply 400MW of power to BDC’s MY07 data centre, which is BDC’s newest facility currently under construction in the Johor suburb of Ulu Tiram, according to a press release posted on W.Media.

MY07 is designed as a hyperscale data centre that BDC – which is backed by Bain Capital – says will serve growing demand for digital infrastructure in the region.

The agreement – which was facilitated by TNB’s green subsidiary, TNB Renewables – was signed under the Malaysian government’s Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS) framework that was officially launched in September.

The CRESS framework aims to liberalise Malaysia’s energy sector and encourage adoption of green energy by enabling an open grid access system that allows companies to access green electricity supply more easily. Under CRESS, third parties can supply or purchase electricity via the grid with a predetermined system access charge.

The government hopes that CRESS will enable renewable energy to account for 70% of Malaysia’s energy capacity by 2050. The CRESS initiative comes as the Malaysian government is also pushing to develop the country as a key data centre hub for southeast Asia. As part of that push, the Malaysian Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation has vowed to address sustainability issues in the data centre sector.

TNB president and CEO Megat Jalaluddin Megat Hassan said the deal with BDC represents Malaysia’s fastest ESA delivery to meet a data centre’s energy needs.

“Through the TNB Green Lane Pathway initiative, combined with our One-Stop Centre services, we are proud to guarantee rapid deployment of energy solutions within just 12 months,” he said in a statement.

BDC CEO Eric Fan said the agreement “establishes a framework for BDC to incorporate renewable energy into its operations, demonstrating a shared commitment between TNB and BDC toward sustainability and carbon reduction.”