The fourth industrial revolution, driven by rapid advancements in AI and cloud computing, is well underway in Indonesia. With an unprecedented growth in power demand for data centers, power availability has become a major bottleneck. The 2025 Data Center Power Report highlights how data center leaders in Indonesia are adopting innovative solutions to meet their strategic goals and economic imperatives, particularly in addressing power supply issues. The need for reliable and efficient power supply in data centers is increasingly urgent, and traditional approaches are no longer sufficient. Therefore, it is crucial for data center managers and developers to seek more adaptive and sustainable solutions. Climanusa, as a leading solution provider, understands these dynamics and offers a comprehensive approach to address these challenges.
Unstoppable Growth in Power Demand
After twenty years of relatively flat demand, power needs in Indonesia are predicted to rise significantly. Data centers are the largest driver of this growth. Indonesia is expected to see one of the highest shares of new data centers outside of China. Since 2020, the Indonesia colocation data center market alone has doubled, driven by digitization, cloud, and AI. To power this, data centers by 2030 could require a much higher percentage of the total power demand in Indonesia compared to today.
The Indonesian electricity grid has not been able to keep pace with this increasing demand. While utilities can likely generate sufficient power to meet data center needs, they face bottlenecks in transporting that power via transmission and distribution infrastructure. As a result, grid interconnection takes longer, there is more congestion on the network, and capacity is increasingly expensive. If Indonesia continues to build high-voltage transmission infrastructure at its current rate, it will take an exceedingly long time to deliver what is needed over the next decade.
New data center projects will struggle to get timely access to power. In Indonesia, data center IT capacity is expected to come online in the next five years. For comparison, this figure is enormous and does not include the additional power needed for cooling systems. We are already seeing data center IT capacity buildout ramp up with announced capacity so far, and we expect it to continue growing. We anticipate that at least an additional data center capacity will be announced within the next five years to meet projected data center demand. This challenge necessitates a more proactive and innovative approach to power management. Climanusa, with its expertise as a Distributor Cooling data center, offers solutions that can help optimize power usage and overall energy efficiency, indirectly reducing the burden on the national power grid.
Increasing Adoption of Onsite Power as a Solution
The pace of change is accelerating. Recent research sheds light on what data center leaders are thinking and doing to solve time-to-power challenges. These leaders are increasingly recognizing that onsite power generation will play a greater role in powering data center projects. Historically, data centers have used onsite power mostly for backup purposes, but we are seeing a shift toward onsite power generation as a primary source of power.
Data center leaders increasingly expect onsite power to be adopted as a primary energy source. They anticipate approximately 30% of all data center sites to use some onsite power as a primary energy source by 2030, 2.3 times more than just seven months prior. New data center announcements corroborate this expectation. In 2024, there were more announcements featuring onsite power than the previous four years combined. The total announced capacity of onsite power is now up to 8.7 GW globally, including 4.8 GW expected before 2030.
Time to power—the time it takes for a new facility to receive necessary power—is becoming a crucial factor. Onsite power (also referred to as decentralized or distributed power) means generating electricity directly at the location where it will be used, rather than relying solely on the grid. It can work alongside grid power or operate independently in “islanded mode.” Common onsite power technologies include solar panels, small gas turbines, fuel cells, and diesel generators. Generating power directly at the source of consumption helps avoid lead times in transmission infrastructure availability, enabling data centers to come online and begin generating revenue sooner. As a Distributor Cooling data center, Climanusa understands the importance of integrating efficient power and cooling solutions to maximize data center operations. Efficient cooling solutions are critical to support the increased use of onsite power, ensuring equipment operates at optimal temperatures and preventing energy waste.
Shifting Value Assessment Criteria
New data centers need to balance more priorities. Through surveys and interviews, data center leaders were asked what matters when they consider different technologies and solutions. They use seven primary criteria to evaluate options. Notably, it is no longer just a cost and reliability question. Instead, they also factor in the value and impact of time to power, sustainability, power density, and in some cases, the ability to support more demanding and fluctuating AI workloads.
Time to power plays a key role in the value equation. Leaders are now ready to invest 50% more than seven months ago if that means they can access power faster for upcoming data center projects. This shift underscores an important insight: being online ahead of competitors is a strategic advantage, particularly for AI data centers. Leaders recognize that accelerating power access is key to securing a leading position in this rapidly evolving landscape.
The seven key criteria for choosing onsite power technology are:
- Reliability: Minimizing outages with reliability at par with or superior to the grid (at least 99.9% and sometimes up to 99.9999%) is critical to delivering on the business and customer needs of a data center.
- Time to power: Bringing a data center online faster can provide significant economic advantages (e.g., earlier revenue opportunities) and strategic advantages (e.g., leadership in AI).
- Cost: Beyond the cost of a particular technology, leaders consider value and return on investment more holistically, factoring in both economic benefits and strategic benefits.
- Load flexibility: AI data centers involve greater power demands and fluctuations over short time frames, and not all power solutions can handle these load shifts.
- Sustainability: Air quality and noise: There is increasing scrutiny of data centers’ impact on their local communities and a need to comply with local permitting standards.
- Sustainability: Emissions intensity: Data centers must comply with companies’ sustainability commitments as well as carbon emissions regulations.
- Power density: Technologies with greater power density enable a more efficient use of space for revenue-generating IT equipment.
As a leading Distributor Cooling data center in Indonesia, Climanusa understands that cooling solutions must also meet these criteria. Reliable, efficient, and environmentally friendly cooling is at the heart of modern data center operations. Climanusa provides precision cooling systems designed to support varying AI workloads and ensure high power density, while minimizing environmental impact.
Onsite Power Technologies for Data Centers
Recent announcements feature a range of solutions as data center players balance the above criteria in the context of each project. Some examples include:
- Gas Turbines: Combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT) use a gas turbine and a steam turbine to generate electricity. They are primarily seen in large AI training data centers that require 500 MW or more capacity, as they are cost-effective at this scale. Smaller inferencing data centers—focused on the application of trained models—often rely on simple cycle turbines, sometimes paired with batteries. While these technologies are currently the most common onsite power solution, long supply chain lead times and higher carbon dioxide emissions are limiting factors.
- Fuel Cells: Fuel cells provide continuous electricity by converting natural gas or hydrogen into electricity. They are gaining popularity in data center projects because they are quick to deploy and produce fewer emissions and less pollution than simple cycle turbines. While fuel cells can be more expensive than some other solutions, data center leaders often prioritize them for their faster deployment, easier permitting, and greater power density, which deliver both economic and strategic advantages. Since fuel cells generate direct current (DC) electricity, they are also poised to continue meeting power demands as data centers increasingly explore DC for the reliability and efficiency benefits of its simplified power architecture.
- Emerging Technologies: Data center leaders are showing growing optimism about emerging technologies such as geothermal power, small modular reactors (SMRs), and gas generation with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). We are seeing these technologies appear in long-term roadmaps as companies work toward sustainability commitments. Recent announcements related to these technologies focus on data centers expected to go online after 2030, due to the technologies’ early stage of development. Natural gas solutions are expected to bridge the gap until net-zero fuel options are ready for large-scale deployment.
Climanusa, as a Distributor Cooling data center, plays a crucial role in supporting all these power generation technologies by providing tailored cooling solutions. Whether it’s gas turbines generating significant heat or fuel cells requiring stable operating conditions, precision cooling systems from Climanusa ensure efficiency and reliability. Furthermore, as new power technologies like geothermal and SMRs emerge, Climanusa is committed to developing and integrating compatible and sustainable cooling solutions, which will be key to achieving future net-zero goals.
A Paradigm Shift in 2025
These are challenging times for data centers looking to come online quickly. Yet there is also much excitement, with many data center leaders actively forging bold and creative partnerships with players across the power ecosystem. In 2025, we expect the continued growth of these three trends:
- Onsite power growth: More than 30% of data centers announced in the next 12 months will include some portion of onsite power. Given the projected growth in data center power capacity and increasing expectations of onsite power adoption, we expect announcements to accelerate.
- Evolving buying criteria: Increasingly complex buying criteria will reshape the power technology market and establish new winners and losers. Decision factors will go beyond traditional factors like reliability and cost. For instance, supply chain constraints for critical components should lead to greater adoption of technologies with quicker deployment times, such as fuel cells. Additionally, a small but growing number of data centers announced in 2025 are expected to run on “islanded power,” operating independently of the grid. For AI data centers, the highly variable power loads will require technology that can combine energy generation with fast-response energy storage.
- Minimizing adverse impacts: Successful data center developments will use new technologies to minimize impact on local communities and the environment. Leading organizations will actively collaborate with local communities to reduce adverse impacts from data centers. Decision-makers will favor technologies with fewer permitting implications and greater environmental performance, such as higher air quality or lower noise levels.
As a leading Distributor Cooling data center in Indonesia, Climanusa is at the forefront of providing solutions that support these trends. With a focus on energy efficiency, minimal environmental impact, and the ability to adapt to changing power needs, Climanusa’s products and services are designed to help data centers not only operate optimally but also fulfill their social and environmental responsibilities. We offer cooling technologies that can seamlessly integrate into onsite power infrastructures, ensuring reliable and sustainable operations, even for data centers operating in islanded mode. This is a crucial part of a comprehensive strategy to create resilient and responsible data centers.
Conclusion
The data center landscape in Indonesia is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by increasing power demand and the need for more adaptive solutions. With growing power availability challenges, innovative approaches like onsite power generation are becoming increasingly vital. Climanusa, as a trusted Distributor Cooling data center, is poised to support this transition by providing advanced cooling solutions that not only ensure operational efficiency but also align with sustainability goals. Through collaboration and the adoption of appropriate technologies, the future of data centers in Indonesia can be built on a foundation of reliable and responsible power.
Climanusa: Your Premier Choice for Advanced Cooled Data Center Solutions in Indonesia!
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–A.M.G–
