Electricity Demand Surges In Quarter Two Alongside Growing Demand For Data Centre

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AFTER a seasonal dip in quarter one of financial year 2025 (1QFY25), electricity sales in Peninsular Malaysia rebounded sharply in 2QFY25, led by commercial demand from data centres.

Load utilisation rose to 603MW in Jun 2025 from 485MW in Mar 2025, with total energy use of 1,852GWh in the first half of financial year 2025 (1HFY25). 
“As of Jun 2025, 24 data centre projects (with 3,500MW capacity) have been completed, including three data centre projects (with 740MW capacity) in 2QFY25,” said Kenanga. 
Year-to-date (YTD), five new Electricity Supply Agreements (ESA) were signed, adding 480MW, with two projects (with 253MW) completed in Jul – Aug 2025. 

In total, 47 ESA have been signed, with cumulative capacity of 6,700MW. Demand from this segment is expected to grow further. To meet rising demand growth from data centre development, Malaysia is expected to add 6GW–8GW of new generation capacity by 2030. The Energy Commission has invited RFPs for: 

(i) new generation capacity. 
(ii) extensions of gas-fired PPAs. 
(iii) additional capacity from expired PPAs from gas-fired plants. 
With no new coal-fired plants, gas-fired capacity is the priority to support rising demand. In fact, natural gas usage in Peninsular Malaysia is already driven largely by the power sector.


Gas-fired generation is expected to climb toward 50% by 2030, supported by:
(i) data centre-driven electricity demand.
(ii) phase-out of coal plants.
(iii) 6GW–8GW new gas capacity by 2030. 
Kenanga maintains Overweight on the utilities sector. YTD, the KL Utilities Index (KLUTL) is down 2%, broadly mirroring the FBMKLCI’s decline of 3%, dragged by TENAGA which fell 10% on concerns over its tax dispute with IRB. In all, the data centre boom makes utilities prime beneficiaries, providing long-term recurring income streams.— Focus Malaysia

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