DOE in talks with hyperscalers to address rising power demand

By Alena Mae S. Flores – February 25, 2024, 6:55 pm
from manilastandard.net

The Department of Energy (DOE) is working with hyperscalers to address their growing power demand, specifically from renewable energy.

DOE Undersecretary Rowena Guevara recently attended a forum for hyperscalers where the companies said they require anywhere from 8 megawatts to over 100 MW of supply per facility.

Guevara said the hyperscalers wanted availability, reliability, affordability and renewable energy.

Hyperscalers are major technology companies that provide cloud, networking and internet services, taking advantage of the digital technologies to help companies grow.

“If they push through with making the Philippines the data center hub in ASEAN, we have to pursue CES [clean energy scenario] 1 or CES 2,” she said.

Under the Philippine Energy Plan, CES 1 is a high RE with low offshore wind, nuclear and coal repurposing, which targets over 50 percent RE share by 2050.

CES 1 includes nuclear (1,200 MW by 2032, additional 1,200 MW by 2035 and another 2,400 MW by 2050) and 19 gigawatts of OSW, along with coal repurposing.

Meanwhile, CES 2 is the high RE with high OSW, nuclear and coal repurposing scenario similar to CES, except that OSW will be 50 GW.

Guevara said she directed the hyperscalers to come up with a roadmap “so that we can match the demand that we have with the supply from renewables.”

The Philippines is gearing to be the next hyperscaler hub in the Asia-Pacific region, providing opportunities for investments and partnerships for hyperscaler and data center firms.

“We believe that the hyperscalers industry will be the next growth engine of the Philippines. We are keen on helping hyperscalers cloud services and start-up ecosystem in the Philippines,” said Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual earlier.