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Thailand’s data center boom is running into a ‘megawatt gap,’ with bottlenecks in transmission and distribution infrastructure. (Photo: iStock)
Thailand’s rapidly expanding data center pipeline is running into a structural constraint that generation capacity alone cannot solve, industry experts warn.
Thailand’s planned data center capacity has reached around 2.87 GW. The core issue is no longer whether the country can produce enough electricity, but whether it can deliver that power reliably to high-demand clusters, said Jerin Raj, senior vice president and managing director at engineering firm Black & Veatch.
He described this mismatch as a ‘megawatt gap’ between where power is generated and where it is needed, a constraint that must be addressed before Thailand can fully capitalize on investor momentum.
Unlock the full article to explore three key takeaways:
- Thailand’s planned data center capacity has reached around 2.87 GW, but transmission infrastructure in the Eastern Economic Corridor was designed for conventional industrial loads and is struggling to keep pace with hyperscale demand.
- The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has outlined a USD 966 million plan to raise transfer capacity across the corridor from around 600 MW to 1,150 MW.
- Thailand holds the lowest grid emissions intensity in Southeast Asia at 0.37 kg CO2/kWh, but its limited renewable energy share may become a competitive disadvantage as operators with strict RE100 commitments weigh location decisions against markets like Vietnam.
