Data developers are increasingly required to provide grid services support to secure power access across the Asia Pacific region, according to a recent report by Wood Mackenzie.
Its latest report, examined how governments and regulators are responding to unprecedented growth in electricity demand from data centers across eight key markets. The report found that regulators across APAC are moving away from traditional utility agreements, towards frameworks that require data centers to share responsibility for grid reliability, flexibility, and decarbonization.
The measures fall into four main categories, namely, conditional access, geographic diversification, grid-support requirements, and capacity controls.
In Japan, the report noted that regulators are considering frameworks that allow facilities to connect before grid reinforcements are completed, provided operators install load-shedding capabilities, battery storage, or other technologies to support demand flexibility.
In Japan, India, and South Korea, governments have begun to look towards moving data center development to regions with stronger grid availability and lower-carbon power supplies.
Within the Australian market, the report found that the country has begun to require large data centers to actively support grid stability. Rules that have been proposed include requiring facilities with a capacity of more than 30MW to remain connected during voltage and frequency disturbances and recover demand in a controlled manner following grid events.
Finally, in Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea, the report found that there had been a move to utilize regulatory frameworks to manage access to constrained power systems. Proposed frameworks include requirements tied to energy efficiency, renewable energy procurement, and grid impact assessments to raise barriers to market entry, favoring larger, capital-rich operators.
APAC is home to some of the biggest names in the data center business, with colo giants such as Equinix boasting more than 60 data centers across ten countries. The region is also home to Digital Realty, AirTrunk, and STT GDC, as well as major hyperscalers AWS, Google, and Microsoft, which predominantly operate data centers to serve their cloud regions across APAC.