The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Department of Energy (DOE) said last week that while power supply remains sufficient to support the growing data center industry, it needs the sector’s long-term roadmap to properly assess its impact on the energy market.
Speaking at the ABS-CBN News Channel forum “The Clean Energy Shift: Powering a Green Economy with Renewable Energy” in Quezon City, DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said data centers currently consume about 120 megawatts (MW), with demand projected to climb to 500 MW in the coming years.
She assured stakeholders that the DOE has already awarded more than 1,300 renewable energy (RE) service contracts with a total potential capacity of over 150 gigawatts.
“So that means the off-take for these green energy auction winners is also guaranteed. And also with the other 1,300 renewable service contracts, there is a market for them,” Guevara said, noting that the rise of artificial intelligence worldwide makes reliable energy supply even more critical.
In an interview after the forum, Guevara said the DOE is waiting for the Data Center Association of the Philippines to submit its roadmap before the year ends.
“We have to make sure we don’t put up too many power plants. We just need to be able to meet their demands,” she explained, stressing the importance of maintaining an adequate supply margin to avoid shortages if power plants go on forced outages.