Google has confirmed plans to add more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of new clean energy capacity to Malaysia's National Grid, working with state utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) under the country's Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS). The commitment, announced on 4 November as part of a US$15 billion investment in Malaysia over 2027 and 2028, was highlighted in fresh energy trade coverage on 11 November.

The collaboration will support the development of new clean energy generation facilities and explore round-the-clock clean energy projects to manage the intermittency of sources such as solar power. Google said it will pay for 100% of the electricity its data centre campuses use, as well as the direct infrastructure costs of connecting them to the grid.

New campuses in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan

The investment will fund new data centre campuses in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, alongside Google's first Malaysian campus at Elmina Business Park, which is now operational. The new capacity is intended to power services including Search, Maps and Chrome, and to support an upcoming Google Cloud region in Malaysia.

Google said its campuses are designed to run at a power usage effectiveness of 1.12 to 1.14, against an industry average of 1.54, and that water cooling can cut energy use by about 10% compared with air cooling.

Jobs and skills

Google estimates the construction phase will contribute an average of US$1.1 billion a year to Malaysia's GDP and support more than 37,000 local jobs a year during 2027 and 2028. It also plans to upskill about 800,000 Malaysians by 2031 through four new education and workforce programmes.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim attended the announcement in Kuala Lumpur, where Google said the plan builds on more than 15 years of presence in Malaysia.