No more licences will be issued for new data centres in Bangkok, governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Wednesday, responding to growing concerns about potential negative impacts associated with the facilities.
About 30 or 40 data centres exist in the capital but they have not caused any negative impact on resources, the environment or safety, Mr Chadchart said at a briefing at City Hall.
Most of the data centres built in recent years were small-scale operations serving the internal requirements of individual businesses, he said. The emergence of large-scale and standalone data centres began about five years ago as demand rose for facilities to serve external organisations.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has received requests for the establishment of six large-scale data centres.
‘It has given permission to three projects and the other requests have been shelved for revision of relevant regulations. … There are no new licences for big projects now,’ Mr Chadchart said.
Regulations need changing because existing laws do not adequately define data centres, the governor said. Past permission was based on conditions for the construction of warehouses and was not subject to city-planning and factory rules.
Power and water consumption
Kasem Sathonghak, assistant governor of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, said existing data centres in Bangkok were designed to consume 20 megawatts of electricity each but their real power consumption was only about eight megawatts.
‘The Metropolitan Electricity Authority can supply power,’ he said. ‘Their energy consumption is very small compared with large facilities like department stores which consume more than 100 megawatts each.’
Supichete Thavorntaveevong, deputy governor of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, said larger data centres in Bangkok consumed about 7,800 cubic metres of water per month. By comparison, large hospitals need about 20,000 cu m and big department stores use 30,000 to 40,000 cu m per month, he said.
‘There has not been any impact on water services in Bangkok yet. The Metropolitan Waterworks Authority is ready to support data centre supervision by the Ministry of Energy and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. We will try to prevent or minimise impacts,’ he said.
Mr Chadchart said data centres did not discharge polluted water because they used water for cooling but City Hall would investigate if hot water was released into waterways.
Chaichanok Chidchob, the digital economy and society minister, claimed on Tuesday that many data centres were operating without permission in Bangkok. Authorities were investigating fuel stockpiling as well as the foreign investment status of some facilities, he said.
Two larger-scale data centres approved in the Rama IX area of Bangkok are Edgnex, a joint venture between the UAE-based property developer Damac Group and the MAI-listed IT services provider Proen Corp, and Telehouse, owned by the Japanese telecom company KDDI.
Thitipat Chotidechachainan, secretary to the energy minister, said data centres need to store fuel for electricity generation in case of blackouts. But Energy Minister Akanat Promphan has suspended the issuance of new fuel storage licences pending the revision of the relevant regulations concerning data centres.
‘We will have a data centre board to set conditions for water and electricity consumption and environmental protection,’ she said, referring to a new central body being set up to oversee the fast-growing sector.
According to Ms Thitipat and Mr Chadchart, the law limits fuel storage for internal use by organisations at 500,000 litres. Data centres must reserve fuel for 48 hours of electricity generation.
A data centre on Ramkhamhaeng 28 Road sought permission to reserve 200,000 litres. Another data centre on Rama IX Road has also received approval. Officials will check to ensure the facilities observe their approved limits.