en.Wedoany.com Reported - On May 14, large-scale data centers in China participated in electricity spot market trading in the form of virtual power plants for the first time, achieving "computing power following electricity." Three major data center clusters—China Unicom Group's Shaoguan Data Center, and China Mobile Group's Guangzhou and Zhanjiang Data Centers—leveraged the "Yuenengtou Virtual Power Plant Operation Platform" of Guangdong Power Grid Energy Investment Co., Ltd. to formally participate in energy trading and settlement in the Southern Regional Electricity Spot Market, realizing "flexible spot purchasing."
The specific mechanism of this transaction involves the unified aggregation of flexible computing power loads from data centers. When spot electricity prices rise, the virtual power plant platform shifts non-urgent computing tasks to off-peak times, reducing electricity purchase consumption during high-price periods; when electricity prices are in a low range, it coordinates the release of deferrable computing tasks to fully absorb low-cost electricity, directing data centers to shave peaks and fill valleys based on spot market price signals, thereby maximizing market returns. During the 10:00 to 14:00 period when electricity prices are lower, the platform issued instructions to increase computing tasks and raise electricity loads; during the 16:00 to 20:00 period when prices are higher, it reduced tasks and reasonably curtailed loads; for flexibly adjustable loads, staggered peak regulation was implemented during peak price periods. For a long time, data centers have been labeled as "electricity-guzzling beasts," but the virtual power plant platform has become a collaborative bridge connecting the power grid, electricity market, and computing power loads, transforming data centers from "large electricity consumers" into "flexible resources."
Ma Chen, Vice President of the China Unicom Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Innovation Research Institute, stated that this was the first time the Unicom Computing Network Scheduling Platform and the Guangdong Power Grid "Yuenengtou" Virtual Power Plant Operation Platform achieved non-real-time electricity dispatch, effectively solving the problems of high barriers and technical complexity for data centers participating in the electricity market. The coordination efficiency between computing power and electricity will be further enhanced in the future. Liu Dayang, Vice President of the China Mobile Bay Area Innovation Research Institute, mentioned that under the national policy background of computing-power-electricity synergy, the company is focusing on developing computing-power-electricity synergy products based on computing power carbon efficiency. By integrating with the "Yuenengtou" virtual power plant platform, the advantages of cross-temporal and spatial integration and dispatch of computing, electricity, and carbon will be further leveraged. Yang Jie, Chief Expert on Green and Low Carbon at China Mobile Guangdong Branch, pointed out that through computing-power-electricity synergy, every watt of electricity in the server room can be turned into "real money" on the books.
Zhu Zhenhai, General Manager of the Market Trading Division of Guangdong Power Grid Energy Investment Co., Ltd., explained that the platform can help users scientifically optimize electricity consumption periods and reasonably regulate consumption scale, converting flexible electricity consumption behavior into tangible economic benefits. The inherent attributes of the data centers remain unchanged, but with the platform's aggregated dispatch, electricity consumption gains a new asset value.
On May 8, 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Data Administration jointly issued the "Action Plan for Promoting the Two-Way Empowerment of Artificial Intelligence and Energy," systematically deploying 29 key tasks in areas such as energy supply, green computing power, computing-power-electricity synergy, and virtual power plants, explicitly incorporating the collaborative optimization and dispatch of virtual power plants and distributed resources into high-value energy scenarios. In early 2026, the National Energy Administration announced the first batch of pilot lists for enhancing the construction capacity of new power systems, with 13 virtual power plant projects selected, ranking first in number among all pilot directions and covering 10 pilot cities.
The Guangdong electricity spot market has formed a continuous operation system that generates an electricity price every 15 minutes, reflecting the temporal and spatial value of electricity commodities in real time. China Southern Power Grid stated that the next step will be to use electricity market reform as a link, continuously optimize trading rules for computing-power-electricity synergy, improve the technical support system, gradually expand the scope of data center participation in electricity spot trading, promote more new load resources to access the electricity market, and facilitate the deep integration of electricity, carbon, and computing.
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