02/09/2025

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | SEP 2, 2025

15

Why fear data centres and resource-intensive industries?

Keyfield to acquire workboat for RM76m PETALING JAYA: Keyfield International Bhd’s wholly owned subsidiary, Keyfield Marine Sdn Bhd, has entered into a memorandum of agreement with Carimin Acacia Offshore Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Carimin Petroleum Bhd (Carimin) to acquire Carimin Acacia , a nine-year old Dynamic Positioning 2 accommodation workboat (DP2 AWB) for a cash consideration of RM76 million. The transaction is conditional upon the approval of Carimin’s shareholders at a general meeting. Carimin Acacia is a Malaysian-flagged vessel with a proven nine-year operating track record in the country, equipped with the specifications to meet domestic tender requirements and can be mobilised for operations within a short timeframe. As a DP2 AWB, it can also be utilised to support customers’ operations in harsher environments such as those with congested seabeds, deeper waters and varied weather conditions. Keyfield Group CEO and executive director Datuk Darren Kee said, “This acquisition will strengthen our position as the leading offshore accommodation provider in Malaysia by increasing our capacity and improving the competitive landscape, which is vital for growth in the offshore vessel market. It will add one DP2 AWB to our fleet and deepen our footprint into our core business activity, for which the business prospects remain resilient.” Lianson Fleet Group Q2 results buoyed by higher charter rates PETALING JAYA: Lianson Fleet Group Bhd (LFG), an offshore support vessel and marine transportation provider, reported that its revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, 2025 (Q2’25) increased by 13.9% to RM64.7 million compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit before tax (PBT) jumped 92.1% to RM19.4 million while profit after tax (PAT) surged 115.4% to RM16.5 million. The overall stronger performance was mainly accredited to the higher average daily charter rates along with the improved vessel utilisation, which surged from 63% to 73%. As for the first half of the year, the group posted a 39.6% improvement in revenue to RM122 million. Underpinned by the resilient top-line growth, LFG executed a turnaround, delivering a PBT of RM31.4 million and a PAT of RM26.8 million as opposed to losses reported in the prior year.

WATER, energy and resource-intensive industries (WERII) are taking a vital economic spot to spearhead new technologies and solutions to fuel artificial intelligence, net zero solutions and climate adaption and mitigation, among others. However, Malaysia’s policies are not holistically streamlined to mitigate environ mental challenges faced by this sector. The Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) has raised this issue numerous times and when the federal and state governments open their doors for investments into WERII, they must ensure there are adequate measures to keep these industries in sustainable operation. Let’s zoom in to the latest issues surrounding data centres. By 2030, it is projected that Malaysia will have more than 2,000MW capacity for data centres. This is a sizeable chunk of electricity demand. In addition to that, if every 100MW of a data centre averagely require four million litre per day (MLD) of water supply for cooling purpose, water demand for data centres may exceed 80 MLD by 2030. Will this industry pose a huge risk to our water and electricity sector? Every investment and manufacturing or large-scale services sector development goes through an approval process. In this step, the agencies involved from federal and state governments must ensure that the tech nologies are the latest and most efficient so that it can assist in economic development as a whole in a sustainable manner while optimising resources’ use. According to 2024 official data, the non revenue water (NRW – treated water that is loss in the water supply system) stood at 5,541 MLD or 34.3% for Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan. Selangor (including Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya) recorded 1,431 MLD or 27% and Johor 482 MLD or 24.1% of NRW in the same year. Reduction of NRW can improve distributable capacity of treated water. A longstanding issue we have raised continuously to be addressed. o Awer: The federal and state governments must ensure that such facilities are sustainably operated

It is projected that Malaysia will have more than 2,000MW in power capacity for data centres by 2030. – AFPPIC

1.6 compared to Singapore at a stricter level of 1.3. Thus, there is room for improvement for PUE in Malaysia. As more data centres start to operate in Malaysia, it will increase the baseload profile for energy demand in Peninsular Malaysia particularly. The nature of data centres is 24/7 operation and any attempt to link up to renewable energy (RE) poses risks. RE has intermittent risks and it is not a reliable baseload supply unless substantial invest ment are done to improve energy storage facilities that can guarantee a continuous RE supply for data centes, which comes with high capital expenditure investment. At the moment, fossil fuel power plants are on standby for RE power plants to operate in Malaysia to address the intermittency risk. Therefore, this situation is making current RE operation not truly fossil fuel free. Below are steps that federal and state governments and their agencies must consider in improving WERII operations to be more sustainable and give positive economic impact: 0 Legally binding and voluntary approaches to increase energy efficiency for this sector must be developed. This includes keeping sustainability comparison data at the same level of international peers.

0 Water efficiency can be mandated using the Water Services Industry Act 2006. This can include water reuse, recycling and optimisation of water use for cooling. These approaches can be tailor-made for specific WERII. A local water services company is already offering water recycling solution for wastewater treatment in situ for manufacturing facilities and such models must be further improved and expanded nationally. 0 Waste to resource approaches for WERII and creating matching demand as well as operational ecosystem will further improve sustainability standard in Malaysia. 0 Improving alternative sustainable and durable cooling and coolant technology is another important area of research and development that may have cross-cutting sectoral benefits for energy efficiency and peak demand shaving. It is of utmost importance that approaches derived and undertaken by the government to encourage WERII must not include any attempt to socialise the cost of getting new investors to the economy and the people. Cost socialisation is not a sustainable trend as it is smothering of inefficiency to the public. This article is contributed by Piarapakaran S, president of Awer, a

In rewarding its shareholders, the group has declared a second interim dividend of one sen per ordinary share for the financial year ending Dec 31 2025, amounting to about RM10.8 million. Sarawak clean energy agency in talks to export solid green hydrogen KUCHING: Sarawak Economic As for the energy-guzzling part of data centres, Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is used to measure the efficient operation of data centres. In Malaysia, the PUE was set at 0 Develop future proofing sustainable policies and guidelines tailor-made to address the need of different WERII. non-government organisation involved in research and development in the fields of water, energy and environment.

a regional ecosystem to support the global energy transition. Established in 2019, SEDCE is developing Sarawak’s hydrogen value chain, including the purpose-built Rembus Hydrogen Plant to support the Kuching Urban Transportation System currently under initial construction. SEDCE is also spearheading major hydrogen projects such as the Sarawak Hydrogen Hub, which includes the H2ornbill Project with a Japanese consortium and the H2biscus Project with a South Korean consortium. “These initiatives position SEDCE as a leader in Malaysia’s clean hydrogen development, which is key towards achieving the country’s net zero 2050 target,” it added. – Bernama

deputy premiers and the SEDC chairman, as well as three hydrogen buses operated by Sarawak Metro and two Hyundai Nexo vehicles managed by Sarawak Energy. SEDCE said hydrogen molecules from the Darul Hana plant are transported via tube trailers for a hydrogenation process, during which the molecules are absorbed into the MHX unit. “The unit will then be exported to the offtake destination, where the molecules are dehydrogenated for further use,” it said. The first MHX unit will be shipped to Singapore, marking the maiden export of green hydrogen from Sarawak and laying the foundation for

Hana Hydrogen Plant, which has a daily production capacity of 150kg. SEDCE CEO Robert Hardin said the company is optimising the plant’s potential by exploring new oppor tunities given the limited local demand. “Having an operationally ready green hydrogen plant but not utilising its potential is uneconomical. With the limited demand we have now, we decided to turn this issue into an opportunity to maximise the plant’s capability,” he said. The Darul Hana facility currently supplies hydrogen for 10 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in Sarawak, comprising five Toyota Mirai units used by the premier of Sarawak, three

bottlenecks by offering intrinsic safety and higher storage density suitable for road, rail and sea,” it said in a statement. Hydrexia chairman and CEO Alex Fang said the MHX storage container can be safely transported at ambient pressure and temperature while meeting the highest purity requirements. “The readiness of our unique MHX has reached the level of wide commercialisation. We are committed to serving the needs of hydrogen transport and storage in the Southeast Asian region,” he said. Currently, SEDCE produces green hydrogen through water electrolysis using the Proton Exchange Mem brane (PEM) electrolyser at its Darul

Development Corporation (SEDC), through its new energy arm, SEDC Energy Sdn Bhd (SEDCE), is in discussions with several potential offtakers for the export of green hydrogen in solid form. SEDCE said the initiative is being undertaken in collaboration with its technology partner, Hydrexia Holding Ltd, a leading provider of integrated hydrogen technology solutions, which specialises in hydrogen pro duction, storage, transport and applications. “The Metal Hydride Hydrogen Storage Technology (MHX) stores hydrogen molecules via magnesium hydride, addressing transportation