Johor data centres turn to alternative sources of water for cooling systems

This comes as the Malaysian state rolls out measures to manage water usage, including new tariff

- Harith Mustaffa

JOHOR BAHRU - Faced with higher water tariffs and tighter regulations, data centres in Malaysia's Johor state are turning to alternative water sources for intensive use in cooling systems.

Among these is wastewater reclamation, using technology such as reverse osmosis, similar to Singapore's Newater technology.

Bridge Data Centres, DayOne, Computility Technology and AirTrunk are among the companies adopting such methods, with Bridge having built Johor's first large-scale water reclamation plant and pipe network to cool the company's upcoming 400MW data centre campus. The new centre, Bridge's second in Johor, will be in Ulu Tiram, 15km from Johor Bahru, and is expected to begin operations by 2027.

The move to explore alternative water sources, according to Bridge's chief executive officer Eric Fan, is also due to resource constraints at its first data centre site in Sedenak Tech Park in Kulai, 50km northwest of Johor Bahru.

He said the crowding of competitors has placed a strain on the local water and energy supply.

On Aug 11, federal and state sewage treatment operators Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) and Johor Special Water (JSW) signed three agreements to supply alternative water sources to Bridge, Singapore-headquartered DayOne and Computility Technology, a subsidiary of Beijing-based ZData Technologies.

Under the deals, IWK will supply 12 million litres per day of treated sewage effluent to Bridge and Computility, while DayOne will treat raw water supplied by JSW from Tebrau River for its second campus in Kempas, Johor Bahru.

Another player, AirTrunk, announced plans in April to use recycled water for its two Johor Bahru data centres.