Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s “Invisible Architect”: Building a Resilient, Data-Driven National Grid

In this episode, Ir Ts. Muhammad Al Jundi Abdullah, Lead of Analytics at Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), shares how Malaysia’s national utility is leveraging AI and advanced analytics to strengthen grid management and support faster, data-driven operational decisions. The conversation explores how analytics can help optimise existing assets, improve reliability, support smarter investment planning, and detect unusual consumption patterns, including potential electricity theft. It also looks at how TNB views AI as a tool to augment human expertise and empower its workforce, rather than replace it. TNB is a leading Malaysian utility company in Asia with an international presence in the United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Australia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Cambodia. Within the renewable energy space, TNB has a total gross portfolio of 3.3 Gigawatts (GW) in Peninsular Malaysia (including 2.5GW of large hydro) and 1.3GW across the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Turkiye, comprising mainly solar, wind, and hydro energy generation assets. TNB also transmits and distributes electricity across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and the Federal Territory of Labuan. As of 31 December 2025, TNB supplies electricity to over 11 million customers. 00:00 Intro: The Invisible Architect of Malaysia's Power Grid 01:09 Meet TNB: Analytics in the Distribution Network Division 02:43 Redefining Growth: From Asset Expansion to Optimisation 05:28 Data Centres, EVs & Solar: Malaysia's New Demand Drivers 06:40 AIBP Enterprise Innovation Awards 2025: Underground Cable Analytics 08:14 Overhead Lines: Drone Inspection, Image & Video Analytics 09:48 Detecting Electricity Theft from Illegal Bitcoin Mining 12:15 Measuring Success: Beyond SAIDI to Value-Driven Metrics 15:13 When to Stop an AI Project: Trust, Data & Use Cases 16:43 AI Governance and Cybersecurity Guardrails at TNB 18:02 Innovation Is Adoption, Not a Eureka Moment 19:20 Will AI Replace the Workforce? Intelligence Augmentation 22:05 Digitalising Human Intuition in Asset Management 24:25 Advice for Leaders: Start With People, Not Data 25:52 The Next 5 Years: Self-Aware and Self-Healing Grids 27:37 Closing: ASEAN B2B Growth Podcast by AIBP