With the accelerated implementation of power-computing coordination technology, virtual power plants are entering a "golden period of development."
According to reports, China has recently achieved a milestone where large-scale data centers, for the first time, participated in electricity spot trading in the form of virtual power plants. Three major data center clusters—China Unicom's Shaoguan Data Center, and China Mobile's Guangzhou and Zhanjiang Data Centers—officially engaged in spot market energy trading and settlement through the "Yuenengtou Virtual Power Plant Operation Platform" operated by Guangdong Power Grid Energy Investment Co., Ltd., realizing "flexible spot procurement."
On May 19, stocks related to the virtual power plant concept saw significant gains:
The first instance of "computing following electricity movement" was implemented in Guangdong. On May 14, at the operations backend of China Unicom's data center in Shaoguan, Guangdong, staff closely monitored the screens. Utilizing the "Yuenengtou Virtual Power Plant Operation Platform," the data center, based on predictions of Guangdong's electricity spot day-ahead price trends, executed a precise spot market energy trade: increasing computing tasks and raising power load during low-price periods (10:00-14:00), while reducing non-urgent tasks and appropriately lowering load during peak periods (16:00-20:00). On the same day, China Mobile's Guangzhou and Zhanjiang data center clusters also performed coordinated computing-power scheduling in response to virtual power plant directives. This "computing follows electricity movement" initiative by the three major data centers marks China's first successful participation of large data centers in electricity spot trading as virtual power plants.
With "power-computing coordination" being included in the 2026 government work report and listed as a national-level new infrastructure project, virtual power plants, serving as a key nexus for this coordination, have transitioned from small-scale, exploratory pilots into a phase of accelerated implementation. "Entering 2026, China's virtual power plant construction has moved into a market-oriented and scaled phase. Scenarios like power-computing coordination and green electricity consumption are directly driving the virtual power plant construction boom," an industry analyst noted.
It has been observed that since the beginning of this year, multiple regions including Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Jiangxi have accelerated virtual power plant development, showcasing three main industry trends: continuous policy support and guidance, deepening technological integration, and increasingly mature market mechanisms. Against this backdrop, several listed companies are seizing opportunities and intensifying their布局 in related sectors.
The target is set at 50 million kilowatts. A virtual power plant is not a physical power plant but rather a digital technology-based energy aggregation and dispatch system. In March 2025, China's virtual power plant sector welcomed its first national-level专项 policy—the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Virtual Power Plants" jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, which established the identity of virtual power plants as "independent market entities."
These guiding opinions clearly outlined scale targets: by 2027, the national virtual power plant regulation capacity should reach over 20 million kilowatts; by 2030, it should exceed 50 million kilowatts. In 2026, virtual power plants were again mentioned in national policy. In February this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Opinions on Improving the Nationally Unified Electricity Market System," proposing to, under the premise of ensuring safety and adhering to inclusive and prudent principles, promote flexible participation of new market entities like virtual power plants, smart microgrids, and adjustable loads in the electricity market, and accelerate the formulation and revision of standards for their operation monitoring, grid connection, bidirectional metering, and information interaction.
Guided by national policy, local governments have initiated a virtual power plant "race." According to incomplete statistics, over 20 provinces and cities including Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangxi, and Gansu have issued专项 policies, establishing virtual power plant construction catalogs, subsidy standards, and trading rules. Thus, a virtual power plant policy system has been formed, characterized by "national direction-setting and local implementation."
At the local level, Guangdong is leading the charge. As the province with four spots among the first batch of national virtual power plant pilots, Guangdong currently boasts 60 virtual power plant operators. It was noted that as early as 2024, Guangdong released the "Implementation Plan for Guangdong Virtual Power Plants Participating in Electricity Market Trading." Furthermore, cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen have相继 issued专项 policies. For example, in August 2025, the Guangzhou Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau issued the "Guangzhou High-Quality Development Implementation Plan for Virtual Power Plants," proposing that by the end of 2027, Guangzhou will achieve the integration of resources such as 10kV and above distributed photovoltaics, user-side energy storage, and charging/swapping facilities, with an integration capacity reaching 5 million kilowatts and a regulation capacity of 1.5 million kilowatts. Virtual power plants will become a crucial support for power supply保障 and peak-valley regulation, forming a sustainable,常规化的 business operation model and industrial ecosystem.
In February 2026, a landmark event occurred for Guangdong's virtual power plant development—the province's first batch of generation-type virtual power plants, with a total capacity of approximately 33 megawatts from cities like Shenzhen, Foshan, and Zhongshan, officially participated in electricity spot market trading through quantity and price bidding. This signifies that virtual power plant operators and aggregated resources in Guangdong meeting market准入 conditions are no longer passive management subjects of the power grid.
The reason power-computing coordination can act as a catalyst for the virtual power plant construction boom lies in its ability to serve as a "green electricity管家" and "cost optimizer" for computing facilities. "Computing needs green power, the grid needs flexibility, and virtual power plants need scale. 'Power-computing coordination' perfectly aligns these three, becoming the strongest契机 for the virtual power plant爆发," said Huang Yizhao, General Manager of GCL Energy's Shengneng Company, in an interview. He explained that the essence of power-computing coordination is the deep integration of high-density computing loads with green power and flexible grids, and virtual power plants恰好 address the pain points of data centers: "green power刚需 + high load fluctuation + difficult grid access."
It is worth mentioning that virtual power plants can aggregate resources like photovoltaics, energy storage, industrial and commercial loads, and adjustable computing loads to achieve peak shaving and valley filling, stabilize green power supply, alleviate grid supply pressure, and significantly reduce electricity costs for computing enterprises. In the recent Guangdong "computing follows electricity movement"交易, the virtual power plant acted as a bridge between the electricity market and computing loads: when spot electricity prices are high, it can reasonably shift non-urgent computing tasks to reduce power consumption during高价 periods; when local spot prices are low, it can coordinate to release postponable computing tasks, absorbing low-cost electricity.
Zhu Zhenhai, General Manager of the Market Trading Division at Guangdong Power Grid Energy Investment Co., Ltd., stated, "We can help users scientifically optimize their electricity usage periods, reasonably regulate consumption规模, transforming flexible electricity usage behavior into tangible economic benefits. The inherent nature of data centers remains unchanged, but through platform aggregation and调度, electricity consumption acquires全新的 asset value."
Entering the scaled implementation phase. Currently, computing power and电力 are becoming two core pillars supporting the digital economy and energy transition. Their deep耦合 is jointly催生 the爆发式 demand for virtual power plants. In May 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission, National Energy Administration, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and National Data Bureau issued the "Action Plan for Promoting the Mutual Empowerment of Artificial Intelligence and Energy," further anchoring the policy foundation for "power-computing coordination" development. The plan proposes that by 2027, a safe, green, and economical energy保障 system supporting AI innovation development will be初步构建, with the interaction capability between clean energy and computing facilities显著提升.
As an important form of this "interaction," virtual power plants address the issues of "expensive electricity, difficult electricity access, and lack of green power" for data centers and AI computing centers through three main methods: direct green power procurement, cross-regional调度, and flexible load regulation. Therefore, driven by both policy and value释放, China's virtual power plant construction has entered a new phase of scaled and commercialized implementation this year.
Data released by the National Energy Administration shows that as of the end of 2025, the number of national virtual power plant projects reached 470, with a tested maximum regulation capacity of 16.85 million kilowatts, equivalent to the peak output of 16 million-kilowatt级 large thermal power plants. Although China's virtual power plant construction pace accelerated in 2025, there remains nearly a twofold growth space to reach the target of over 50 million kilowatts by 2030.
It has been observed that many regions across the country have already formed特色化 virtual power plant construction paths. For example, Gansu, leveraging its advantage in abundant new energy resources, has built a provincial virtual power plant operation and control platform, aggregating resources like industrial loads and charging piles, with a total regulation capacity of 45.6 thousand kilowatts, achieving increased load consumption during periods of high new energy generation and peak-shaving regulation during electricity consumption peaks. Eastern computing power provinces like Guangdong and Jiangsu are重点推进 the integration of data centers into virtual power plants, exploring "computing-power联动, cross-regional调度" to resolve the矛盾 between high computing energy consumption and grid supply保障.
Meanwhile, in this wave of virtual power plant construction, private enterprises also play a significant role. Xing Yiteng, Deputy Director of the Development Planning Department of the National Energy Administration, recently stated at a press conference that 535 virtual power plants have been built nationwide, with private enterprises accounting for 45%. Several virtual power plant projects invested and constructed by private enterprises have been included in the first batch of new power system capability enhancement pilot lists.
Furthermore, statistics reveal that several listed companies, including
It should be noted that although the virtual power plant construction boom is surging, it still faces multiple challenges in technology, mechanisms, and markets as power-computing coordination深推进. Especially at the technical level, the调度 precision and compatibility of virtual power plants for power-computing coordination仍需提升. "Current virtual power plant platforms mostly focus on power-side调度, lacking sufficient perception and regulation capabilities for computing loads, making it difficult to achieve more precise调度," the aforementioned analyst also pointed out, adding that data interoperability and coordinated调度还需破壁, and technologies like cross-regional computing-power调度尚需攻克.
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