From August 21 to 22, the inaugural meeting of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee (hereinafter “the Committee”) of the China Energy Research Society, together with the 2nd Virtual Power Plant (Shanghai) Summit Forum, was held in Shanghai. Attendees included Shi Yubo, President of the China Energy Research Society; Sun Zhengyun, Vice President and Secretary-General; Chen Xiaofen, Supervisor; Zhu Minglin, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission; Ge Dongbo, Deputy Director of the Economic and Information Technology Commission; Wei Ping, Director of Market Supervision, East China Regulatory Bureau, National Energy Administration; Gu Chunhua, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Shanghai Electric Power University; Liang Xu, President of the Shanghai Electric Power Industry Association and Chairman and Party Secretary of State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Company; Kang Chongqing, Dean of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronics (EEA), Tsinghua University; more than 50 committee representatives from research institutes, universities, and enterprises; and nearly 1,000 guests participating in a hybrid online-offline format. The meeting and related activities were broadcast live by China National Radio Online, with cumulative online viewers exceeding one million.

During the inaugural meeting of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee on August 21, the first-term Chairman, Executive Vice Chairmen, and Vice Chairmen were elected. Kang Chongqing was elected Chairman, Sheng Ming as Executive Vice Chairman, and Jiang Yingwei, Guo Qi, Anna, Fan Pengfei, Zhu Jiong, Han Bing, and Fei Zhi as Vice Chairmen. Zhou Quan was appointed Secretary-General, and Zhao Hong and Li Jianfeng were appointed Deputy Secretaries-General.

In his statement, Chairman Kang Chongqing highlighted the national-level emphasis on virtual power plant development, with multiple policies defining development goals and implementation paths. He noted that the Committee would leverage its platform to build industry consensus, create an industrial ecosystem, promote technological R&D and mechanism innovation, accelerate standardization and demonstration applications, and facilitate the development of virtual power plants toward standardization, scalability, and digital intelligence, driving coordinated development across upstream and downstream industries.

Supervisor Chen Xiaofen emphasized that the Committee was established following full compliance procedures, with complete and valid documentation, a transparent election process, and alignment with the Society’s regulations. The Committee focuses on integrating industry resources, pooling academia-industry-research forces, promoting technological innovation and industrial upgrading in virtual power plants, serving national energy strategy needs, enhancing the core competitiveness of the new energy industry, and leading future energy technology and industrial transformation.

President Shi Yubo, in his concluding remarks, noted that the global energy landscape is undergoing profound changes, and China’s energy transition has entered a critical stage. Achieving the “dual carbon” goals and building a new type of power system urgently requires innovation and application of new energy technologies such as virtual power plants. The establishment of the Committee marks an important step in serving national strategy and improving the energy discipline system, elevating research capacity and industry influence in the field of new power systems. He encouraged the Committee to maintain political guidance, actively serve national strategies, deepen academia-industry-research collaboration, promote breakthroughs in key technologies and standards, foster cross-sector integration and practical application, accelerate result translation and industrial upgrading, and contribute to China’s green energy transition and new power system construction.

The Committee’s establishment provides a high-level platform for exchange and cooperation in the virtual power plant sector. In the future, it will align precisely with energy development needs, bring together universities, research institutes, and enterprises, and foster a high-quality development ecosystem through technical seminars, conferences, and demonstration cases, supporting China’s energy sector in advancing toward a green and low-carbon future.

Presentation of Appointment Certificates by the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee

Inaugural Meeting and First Plenary Session of the Committee

During the Virtual Power Plant Summit Forum on August 22, President Shi Yubo delivered a congratulatory speech via video on behalf of the China Energy Research Society. Subsequently, Deputy Directors Zhu Minglin and Ge Dongbo, Director Wei Ping, President Gu Chunhua, and Chairman Liang Xu delivered speeches on Shanghai’s strategic layout, construction achievements, market environment, practice plans, and development path for virtual power plants.

Shi Yubo (top left), Zhu Minglin (top center), Ge Dongbo (top right), Wei Ping (bottom left), Gu Chunhua (bottom center), Liang Xu (bottom right) delivering speeches

During the forum, the highly anticipated plaque-awarding ceremony of the Committee was held. Sun Zhengyun, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Energy Research Society, presented the plaque to Chairman Kang Chongqing, adding a highlight to this event focused on high-quality development of virtual power plants.

Chairman Kang Chongqing receiving the plaque on behalf of the Committee

In the keynote sessions, Sheng Ming, Deputy General Manager of State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Company; Guo Qi, Vice President of the Southern Power Grid Research Institute; and Kang Chongqing, Chairman of the Committee and Dean of EEA, Tsinghua University, delivered presentations on “Leading the Flag and Empowering—Practice and Innovation of Virtual Power Plants in Mega-Cities,” “Exploration and Practice of Virtual Power Plant Technology in Southern Power Grid,” and “Domestic and International Practices and Development Directions of Virtual Power Plants,” respectively. Professor Kang highlighted international trends in virtual power plant technologies and models, analyzed differences between domestic and international development through detailed data and case comparisons, and identified three core challenges: technology integration, market access, and business models. Drawing on national and regional cases, he proposed that virtual power plant development should be “technically robust, policy flexible, and standards leading,” providing theoretical guidance for industry upgrading.

Sheng Ming (left), Guo Qi (center), Kang Chongqing (right) delivering keynote presentations

Following the keynote speeches, Professor Kang chaired a roundtable dialogue where participants discussed technical breakthroughs, business model innovation, and policy optimization, reaching multiple consensuses and providing practical guidance for moving virtual power plants from “concept exploration” to “scaled application.”

Professor Kang Chongqing chairing the roundtable dialogue

The inaugural meeting of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee and the 2nd Virtual Power Plant (Shanghai) Summit Forum effectively addressed institutional barriers, clarified development directions through policy interpretation, sparked innovation through technical exchange, and explored practical scenarios. Through a comprehensive agenda and meticulous design, the forum established top-level consensus on policy, technology, and market, and provided actionable solutions in specialized subfields, anchoring the value coordinates for industry development.