Kuala lumpur: The second day of Tenaga Nasional Bhd's (TNB) Energy Transition Conference 2026 (ETCon26) marked a significant milestone as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim officially launched the conference, reaffirming Malaysia's commitment to advancing a sustainable, resilient and future-ready energy ecosystem.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, building on the momentum of the inaugural conference held in 2023, which marked the launch of the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) by the Prime Minister, ETCon26 highlighted the importance of advancing energy transition in tandem with economic growth, technological innovation, and regional collaboration to ensure long-term national competitiveness and sustainable development.
The conference also underscored Malaysia's continued progress in expanding renewable energy capacity, with TNB playing a pivotal role in advancing the NETR aspiration through contributions to large-scale solar development and continued investments in modernising the national grid through the incorporation of digital technologies.
A key highlight of the day was the witnessing of a document exchange formalising a Bilateral Energy Supply Contract (BESC) under the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS) between TNB and DayOne, a Singapore-headquartered global digital infrastructure platform. The agreement reflected Malaysia's ongoing efforts to advance digital innovation and sustainable energy, aligned with long-term decarbonisation goals under the NETR. The arrangement, which supports Malaysia's AI Nation 2030 agenda, integrates large-scale solar generation with battery energy storage systems, ensuring a stable and reliable supply of renewable energy for energy-intensive digital operations.
Complementing the day two highlights was a high-level Ministerial Dialogue themed 'Powering Malaysia's Next Growth Chapter: Energy, Economy and Digital in Sync', bringing together Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof; Minister of Economy Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir; and Minister of Digital Gobind Singh Deo. The dialogue explored how a whole-government approach can unlock sustainable economic growth and strengthen Malaysia's AI-ready competitiveness, including better alignment across power system planning, digital infrastructure, industrial policy, and talent development. It also reinforced the importance of cross-sector collaboration to advance Malaysia's energy transition, while strengthening ETCon26's role as a platform where energy, economy, and digital policymakers converge to support a more aligned and future-focused national agenda.
Also taking centre stage in day two's discussions were in-depth conversations on the future of energy in ASEAN, where panellists explored the growing importance of cross-border energy trade, regulatory harmonisation, sustainable financing, and nuclear technologies as the region accelerates towards a more interconnected, digital, and low-carbon future. One of the key sessions, 'ASEAN Power Grid: From MoUs to Megawatts', examined ASEAN's readiness to operationalise multilateral power trade at scale, while identifying the concrete policy, infrastructure, and regulatory actions required to realise a truly integrated regional power system. Another prominent dialogue, 'Fueling AI's Hunger: Powering ASEAN's Next Era of Growth', explored the preparedness of ASEAN's current energy systems to meet the rapidly rising electricity demand driven by AI, digitalisation, and data centres, while remaining aligned with energy transition and decarbonisation goals. The conference also featured strong discussions on the future rol e of nuclear energy through the session 'Next-Generation Nuclear: Pioneering the Future'. Experts and industry leaders assessed the readiness of advanced nuclear technologies and the conditions required to make them commercially viable and widely deployable, consequently becoming an alternative source of clean energy to cater to the increasing energy demand in the ASEAN region.
These discussions underscored the need for stronger regional cooperation, interconnected grids, and coordinated policy frameworks in ensuring ASEAN can achieve long-term energy security, economic resilience, and sustainable growth in an increasingly complex global landscape. At this juncture, TNB's role as a prominent industry player remains critical in advancing and facilitating cross-border connectivity initiatives to support the accelerated energy transition agenda in the region.
The next phase of the energy industry will be shaped by digitalisation and the rapid expansion of AI-driven industries, driving continued growth in electricity demand. Emerging load segments, particularly data centres, require a stable and low-carbon electricity supply, with TNB currently supporting 36 operational data centres with an electricity supply capacity of approximately 4.5GW. Against this backdrop, Malaysia remains steadfast in its commitment to increase renewable energy capacity to 70 per cent by 2050 or earlier, supporting the growth of an AI-driven economy while accelerating decarbonisation efforts under the NETR. 'As energy demand from AI and digital industries continues to accelerate globally, ETCon26 reinforces Malaysia's ambition to emerge as a regional leader in advancing a sustainable, resilient, and future-ready energy ecosystem. Through stronger multilateral collaboration, grid modernisation, and clean energy innovation, Malaysia is well-positioned to power ASEAN's next chapter of sustain able growth,' said TNB Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Razak Abdul Majid.