Thailand’s cabinet approved new environmental standards for data centers as the country seeks to manage the sector’s rapid expansion. The rules set a noise cap of about 70 A-weighted decibels (dBA) and impose limits on heat and water discharge.
The measures aim to curb the environmental footprint of facilities powering artificial intelligence, cloud services, and digital infrastructure. They also signal that Thailand wants investment, but not at the cost of local communities and scarce resources.
Data centers must keep noise from equipment such as uninterruptible power supply systems at around 70 dBA. The measure applies to noise measured at the facility boundary and reflects how humans perceive sound.
Operators must also limit the temperature increase in areas surrounding a facility to 1–2 degrees Celsius. The rule targets waste heat, which can raise temperatures in surrounding areas and worsen urban heat-island effects. The government requires data centers to use recirculating cooling-water systems. Operators must test water discharged from cooling systems before releasing it and ensure it meets quality standards.
The requirements address a growing concern as AI workloads increase cooling demand. They also align with earlier proposals requiring operators to collect and treat cooling-tower discharge, known as blowdown, and reuse at least 80 percent of the monthly discharge.
Existing and recently completed facilities will have about one year to upgrade noise and temperature controls before inspections begin. The rules will not apply retroactively to those projects.
New applications are expected to open in early 2027, once the government finalizes the detailed criteria. Facilities in industrial estates must also comply with the environmental impact assessment requirements of those estates.
Thailand is trying to position itself as a regional data-center hub while ensuring that power, water, and community impacts remain manageable. The new framework marks a shift from rapid approvals toward conditional, environmentally accountable expansion.
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