TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsBatam data center expansion threatens water, electricity supplies
Batam has attracted at least 16 new data centers in various stages, despite limited clean water and electricity infrastructure.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
People walk near the DayOne data center on July 20 at Nongsa Digital Park (NDP) in Batam city, Riau Islands. Batam has attracted at least 16 new data centers in various stages, despite limited clean water and electricity infrastructure. (JP/Fadli)
T
he mushrooming data centers in Batam city are not accompanied by sound utility infrastructure planning and especially lack a supply of clean water and electricity, which may weaken resource resilience for the public.
The new data centers in Batam were triggered by a policy limiting new licenses in Singapore and the Malaysian state of Johor, an academician from Batam International University’s (UIB) Economy and Business Faculty, Suyono Saputra told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
“Batam’s proximity and the support of submersible fiberoptic cable network makes it a main alternative route,” he said.
“In the world, data centers always leave questions about supporting infrastructure, especially water and electricity.”
He added that solely relying on raw water sources in Batam is dangerous. The long-term solution is to process sea water through sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) or desalination, but this requires large amounts of funds and time.
Suryo said the “utility first, investment follows” principle must be applied because if infrastructure is not prepared but investment keeps coming, a supply crisis could hit residents hard.
Despite lower operational and energy costs in Batam, clean water consumption for data centers will become a long-term critical challenge. Server cooling systems at large-scale data centers require about 18.93 million liters of water per day, or equivalent to consumption water for 10,000 to 50,000 residents. Meanwhile, Batam’s clean water production is only 3,487 liters per second from six reservoirs.
Your Opinion Matters
Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.
Enter at least 30 characters
0
/ 30
Thank you
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.
