Shanghai's virtual power plant has set a national record for peak-shaving capacity, becoming the first city in China to exceed 1.5 GW of adjustable load.

The city's virtual power plant achieved a measured response of 1.65 GW during this summer's peak demand period, with response efficiency improving more than eight-fold year on year and average response accuracy reaching 89%. Response times have shortened from next-day to hour-level, marking a significant upgrade in dispatch capability.

State Grid Shanghai Electric Power has developed a computing-power coordination model that integrates three adjustment methods: flexible load regulation, backup diesel generator switching and cross-domain computing power transfer. On July 10, the company organized 16 data centers for coordinated dispatch, reducing load by 97.8 MW within two hours - the first full-scale deployment of all three adjustment methods simultaneously.

"Data center loads have spatial and temporal transferability. Through virtual power plant aggregation, massive data centers can become high-quality adjustable resources, transforming from major power consumers into regulation experts," said Zhao Jianli, deputy director of the demand-side management center at State Grid Shanghai's marketing service center.

Shanghai leads the country in new energy vehicle ownership. Vehicle-to-grid interactions have been expanding across public stations and residential communities since summer, with more EVs feeding power back to the grid. Dispatch precision has also improved from citywide balancing to street-level coordination, matching local load pressure with EV charging and discharging needs.

As of August 18, Shanghai's virtual power plant had connected 72 operators with declared capacity of 3.55 GW and adjustable capacity of 2.86 GW, covering non-continuous industrial loads, building air conditioning, charging piles, data centers and user-side energy storage.