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The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry (KeTSA) is introducing the Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0 program to provide an opportunity for more users to install the solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on the roofs of their respective buildings for electricity bill reduction. The NEM 3.0 will be in effect from 2021 to 2023 and the total quota allocation is up to 500 MW.

The NEM 3.0 program involves three initiatives

1. Program NEM Rakyat
Program NEM Rakyat will maintain the concept of “one-to-one” offset rate with a quota of 100 MW or until all quotas are exhausted and about 10,000 to 25,000 Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) domestic account holders or between 40,000 and 100,000 households in the peninsula will enjoy electricity bill reduction.

Quota offered:
100MW

Implementation period:
1st February 2021 – 31st December 2023

2. Program NEM GoMEn (Government Ministries and Entities)
Program NEM GoMEn aims to reduce electricity bills in government buildings with a quota of 100 MW and about 100 government agencies in the peninsula will enjoy a reduction amounting to RM6 million per month.

Quota offered:
100MW

Implementation period:
1st February 2021 – 31st December 2023

3. Program NOVA (Net Offset Virtual Aggregation)
Program NOVA would help entrepreneurs, local companies and houses of worship to reduce electricity bills and the cost of doing business.

Quota offered:
300MW

Implementation period:
1st April 2021 – 31st December 2023

Technology which is outdated.
Just like any technology that has been around for long, the technology for data center UPS systems have been continuously evolving and enhanced over time. With each cycle of advancement, UPS systems are improved in almost all aspects which unfortunately brings current assets closer to obsolete technology.

The reality is that all electro-mechanical systems have parts that wear and eventually wear down. A new UPS system lessens maintenance costs with its new warranty and a renewed life cycle. When weighing against the costs of such wear and tear, owners of older UPS systems are realizing the benefits of evaluating and upgrading to keep their critical loads economically and reliably protected.

UPS unable to handle power needs.
One of the main reasons that many data centers decide to upgrade their UPS system is that it will give them increased power capacity when they need it the most. Data centers are increasing their infrastructure and rack density to accommodate growing server demands and accommodate various other needs.

Therefore, the UPS system must be able to provide sufficient power when it kicks in during a power interruption. In choosing to upgrade your UPS, besides having a perfect understanding of your current power needs, you need to also predict your future needs and provide for scalability and expansion.

Inefficient and power-consuming.
Another reason many data centers opt to upgrade their UPS system is to improve energy efficiency. Today’s UPS systems are far more intelligent and have more sophisticated monitoring capabilities that can be better integrated with your data center infrastructure management.

With better monitoring, data center managers can make more accurate and timely decisions about power in their data center, dramatically improving energy efficiency which in turn, leads to significant savings over time.

Making the transition to a new UPS can maximize performance and dramatically improve efficiency, not to mention decrease the risk of downtime and operational costs. The investment will more than pay for itself over time.

If anything that the current Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, the worldwide demand for new data centers will continue to accelerate. As there is an increasing need to design, build, deploy, and operate more complex mission-critical infrastructure, the data center industry is challenged by the lack of talents who are skilled, experienced and properly trained.

Coupled with other issues such as the inability to forecast demand and location, the result is a decline in data center initial quality with increased costs in building works and overall management uncertainty.

Fortunately, the data center industry has been following the lead of the telecom, datacom, and oil and gas industries and building upon their learnings in optimizing building designs for modular and prefabricated construction techniques.

Applying those techniques, along with many industry innovations, these are being deployed at affordable costs and quick delivery without any compromises on quality.

What is a Prefabricated Data Center?

It is a data center that is pre-engineered and has its systems (hardware and software) preassembled, integrated, and tested in a factory environment to shorten deployment timeframe and improve predictability of performance.

What are the benefits?

• Deployment of a data center solution is very fast! You can be up and running in weeks instead of months or years.

• Match business demand by enabling quick scaling of IT technologies, creating a back-up/disaster recovery site, locating your data center closer to end users, reducing real estate and OPEX.

• Integrated subsystems and modular designs can deliver efficiency gains in power and cooling, reducing operating costs.

• Modular designs can enable you to adjust your data center infrastructure as IT needs change.

How do you know it is suitable for you?

• A prefabricated module may be needed only for a specific resource (just power, just cooling, or just IT space) because of stranded capacity in an existing facility

• A greater IT capacity is needed than what an all-in-one module can support, and a single IT space is required (physical space constraint of modules)

• There is a requirement to separate personnel (IT, mechanical, electrical) from a maintenance and operations perspective to reduce human error risks

• An optimized footprint is needed, and function-specific modules can utilize larger capacity components and share clearances to provide a greater kW per square foot or square meter

Learn three major differences and find out what suits you best.

1. Critical facilities operations focuses more than just the basics.
Traditional facilities management focuses on the basics – making sure the lights, heating and cooling are working. Critical facilities operations rigorously adheres to industry best practices. In a critical facility, if various elements aren’t tuned precisely it could mean equipment failure and potential customer downtime, which is unacceptable.

2. Critical facilities operations document EVERYTHING.
For traditional facilities management, documentation and reporting likely comes down to a manual that may be years old, with a list of services performed in the past.In a data center, teams document every little tweak, including who made it and why. This means necessary changes can be done in real time and on the fly to prevent downtime. In addition, critical data center operations teams conduct emergency preparedness drills and have in place detailed emergency response plans to ensure all personnel are aware and competent.

3. When downtime is an inconvenience or a catastrophe.
In terms of financial risk, if the power goes out in an office building, it’s an inconvenience, but not the end of the world.But if power goes out in a data center, downtime can cost enormous sums of money – an average of USD8,850 per minute according to a Ponemon Institute study.

Be vigilant and choose wisely.