NUS and JTC join forces to power Jurong Island’s green transition – pilot-scale data centre to test low-carbon technologies including hydrogen
Exciting initiatives include setting up a pilot-scale data centre to test low-carbon technologies and talent development programmes
NUS is collaborating with JTC and industry partners on Jurong Island, lending its deep research expertise to accelerate the development of green technologies essential for the island’s decarbonisation goals. On 24 November 2025, both parties ratified a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to study the establishment of a Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed Phase 2.0 (STDCT 2.0) and a microgrid on Jurong Island, and to nurture talent in sustainable infrastructure development.
Data centres are physical facilities that house digital infrastructure like computer systems, servers and storage devices to manage, store and process data and run IT applications. Emerging use of artificial intelligence (AI) have raised concerns on energy consumption and data storage. In anticipation of this, JTC had set aside 20ha of land on Jurong Island (about the size of 25 football fields) for the development of Singapore’s largest low-carbon data centre park, boasting up to 700 megawatts (MW) of capacity.
The study to establish STDCT 2.0 within the low-carbon data centre park will begin in 2026. The facility will pilot green initiatives for tropical data centres adapted to Singapore’s warm and humid climate, leveraging its location on Jurong Island to integrate with existing energy infrastructure and explore microgrid systems, energy-efficient liquid cooling, and AI-ready low-carbon technologies.
As part of the collaboration, NUS and JTC will work together to develop specialised courses, training programmes and internships for students and professionals to cultivate the relevant skills in building sustainable digital infrastructure.
A living lab for next-generation low-carbon data centres
To evaluate low carbon solutions in a real-world environment, the STDCT 2.0 will look and operate like a compact data centre, but also function as an open, reconfigurable research platform. The testbed will include actual IT loads, a mix of advanced cooling systems, and a configurable power and cooling plant. As a living lab, data centre operators will be able to swap in new cooling hardware and control algorithms, and trial integration with low-carbon energy sources and storage.
Prof Lee Poh Seng, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Design and Engineering, NUS, and Programme Director of the STDCT project, said:
Instead of a traditional lab bench or a full commercial hyperscale facility, STDCT 2.0 will be a right-sized, live data centre environment dedicated to de-risking technology and operating concepts for the low-carbon data centre park and other regional projects,
Fueling new breakthroughs in Phase 2.0
The testbed expands the scale and scope of the first phase of STDCT, which was launched at NUS in November 2023.
Proposed research works in STDCT 2.0 will include:
- Scaling up liquid-cooling architecture tested at NUS to AI-class densities and formulating rules and guidelines for the full-scale data centre park.
- Innovations in cooling, such as direct-to-chip and immersion cooling, ultra-low-water concepts and seawater-based heat rejection.
- Designing advanced power architectures, featuring DC distribution, low-carbon energy sources, and hydrogen-compatible backup systems.
- Advancing flexible, grid-supporting operations on Jurong Island by exploring how AI data centres can intelligently integrate with hydrogen-ready power plants, low-carbon fuels, batteries, and other alternative energy sources.
- Driving industrial symbiosis and waste-heat recovery by strategically linking data centres with surrounding industrial processes to maximise energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint.
Speaking at Jurong Island’s 25th anniversary dinner, where the NUS-JTC MOU and five other partnerships were formalised, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Gan Kim Yong said,
Together, these efforts will create a comprehensive ecosystem at Jurong Island where ideas can be tested, refined, and scaled, enabling Singapore to contribute meaningfully to global decarbonisation.
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NUS and JTC join forces to power Jurong Island’s green transition – pilot-scale data centre to test low-carbon technologies including hydrogen, source
