Bangkok suspends new data center licenses over regulatory gaps
Authorities in Bangkok, Thailand, have suspended the issuance of new licenses for data centers and required existing facilities to comply with environmental standards and safety requirements. The decision was made amid public discussion over the placement of such facilities in residential and commercial areas of the capital, Channel NewsAsia reports.
Diesel reserves and facility locations
More than 30 data centers operate in Bangkok, several of them located in residential or commercial areas. One facility visited by CNA journalists is located on Rama IX Road in the central part of the city, next to a hospital and on the same street as a food court.
The growing number of data centers is linked to rising demand for computing capacity amid the development of artificial intelligence. Such facilities consume substantial amounts of electricity, while some store hundreds of thousands of liters of diesel fuel for backup power.
Opposition lawmaker Suphanat Minchaiynunt said in August that one data center in the Bang Kapi district stores 429,000 liters of diesel. According to him, the facility is not classified as a fuel depot under Thailand’s Fuel Control Act because its reserves do not reach 500,000 liters, though such storage still requires a license.
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New minimum standards
According to CNA, some data centers were classified as warehouses or offices rather than industrial facilities. This allowed them to avoid stricter safety, environmental, and zoning requirements.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is considering new rules covering fuel storage, land use, safety, as well as electricity and water consumption. On September 4, the newly established Thailand Data Center Business Policy Committee held its first meeting. Its chair, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, said he intends to close regulatory gaps and create a centralized register of data centers.
The committee has given itself one month to prepare an initial policy framework with minimum rules for the industry. Investment in data centers in Thailand has already exceeded $20 billion, while their energy consumption complicates the country’s progress toward its stated goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
