The Department of Energy (DOE) is prepared to provide so-called hyperscale locators with the electricity they require if they present a unified plan as to where they want their facilities constructed and for government to match this with the adoption of the appropriate power source.
According to Energy undersecretary Rowena Guevarra, the temporarily unorganized data center hyperscalers have yet to present a unified proposal, one that the government commits not only to make available for the data center hyperscalers but make it reliable and affordable for the industry as well.
“(They should) come up with a roadmap so that we can match the demand with the supply that we have from renewables. They promised to come up with a map,” Guevarra told reporters.
According to her, the broad plan is to match what the industry needs with renewable energy connectivity like solar or wind as part of the plan to help make the Philippines the preferred hub for hyperscale data center operations in the region.
Hyperscale data centers require massive amounts of computer processing power to operate efficiently. The demand typically requires anywhere from 8 MW to 100 MW for a single enterprise, Guevara told reporters at the sidelines of a business-to-business matching event the DOE hosted in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development in Taguig City.
Guevara said the aspiration as hyperscale data center hub in the ASEAN is best served by pushing for renewable energy generation.
DOE data show the Philippines with installed renewable energy capacity from solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass facilities totaling 8,320 MW as of end-November 2023.
This accounts for 29.3 percent of the 28,359 MW aggregate installed capacity for the period, excluding energy storage systems.
