Janil Puthucheary, Singapore's senior minister of state at the Ministry of Communications and Information

(May 30): Singapore aims to increase the amount of power it allocates for data centres by as much as 35%, according to Janil Puthucheary, senior minister of state at the Ministry of Communications and Information.

The city-state will free up about 300 megawatts of capacity in the short term via resource allocation and efficiency enhancements, with possibly another 200 megawatts to come through partnerships with clean energy providers, Puthucheary said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. Data centres currently require about 1,400 megawatts of power capacity, according to government data.

Singapore has emerged as a hot destination for data centre developers in Asia due to its location and favourable business environment. However, imported natural gas currently accounts for more than 90% of its power generation, meaning an increase in data centres will create more pollution.

“In the short term, any increase in energy is going to be associated with an increase in emissions,” Puthucheary said. “That’s the way it is if you are using fossil fuels. That’s why right up front we have to reduce consumption, increase efficiency, and put that green energy component on the agenda.”