MALAYSIA will need to add 9 gigawatts (GW) of gas-fired power capacity by 2032 to meet rising electricity demand, as a booming data-centre industry and hotter weather put increasing pressure on the national grid.
Energy Commission chief executive Siti Safinah Salleh said data centres accounted for a record 9.3 per cent of overall power consumption in the second week of August, compared with an average of 7 per cent in 2026.
"With the hotter weather, the cooling system requires a lot more energy," Reuters quoted her saying on Tuesday.
Data centres could account for as much as 31 per cent of Peninsular Malaysia's electricity demand by 2035, said Energy Commission deputy director for economic statistics and research Zaharin Zulkifli.
The surge in demand comes as Malaysia gradually phases out coal-fired generation, with the Government targeting the retirement of its last coal-fired power plants by 2044.
Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said Malaysia would need to augment its gas-fired generation capacity by 9GW by 2032 to support the country's growing electricity requirements.
He told reporters at an Energy Commission conference that Malaysia was leveraging its domestic gas reserves to meet rising power demand as it attracted billions of dollars in investment from major global technology companies, including Amazon and Microsoft.
However, no additional gas-fired power capacity is expected to come online this year or in 2027.
Siti said the country would instead "optimise" its existing generation fleet to meet rising demand through the end of 2027, although she did not provide further details.
She said the Energy Commission did not expect the current hot weather to persist beyond early September, but acknowledged that the higher temperatures had contributed to increased electricity consumption.
"Because of the hot weather, our hydro dams are also at very low levels," she said.
Despite the sharp increase in electricity demand from data centres, Malaysia is not expected to face power shortages in the near term, according to Gary Goh, senior manager for business development at Sprint DC Consulting.
"The demand surge is entirely within grid planning parameters and will continue to ramp predictably," Goh said. - September 8, 2026
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