The IEEE PES Day 2026 China event was held at Tsinghua University on April 14, 2026. Under the theme “Innovating Today, Energizing Tomorrow,” the event focused on artificial intelligence–enabled power systems and explored deep integration between AI technologies and energy systems. The event was guided by the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES), organized by the IEEE PES China Chapter Council (PCCC) and the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, and co-organized by multiple IEEE PES student branches including Peking University, North China Electric Power University, and Beijing Jiaotong University.

Guests attending the event included: Jessica Bian, member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and former President of IEEE PES; Zhang Xiaofeng, Founder of the Global Green Energy Alliance, Vice Chair of the IEEE Smart Village Committee and Chair of its China Committee; Chen Yonghui, Head of Operations of the IEEE Smart Village China Committee; Olayinka Omowunmi, Head of Project Development of the IEEE Smart Village Committee; Mao Yan, Executive Director of Shenzhen MINTAIKE Electronics Co., Ltd.; Zhang Jun, Professor at Wuhan University and Chair of the IEEE Wuhan Section; Wang Yi, Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong and Vice Chair of the IEEE User Systems and Smart Buildings Subcommittee; Sun Mingyang, Researcher at Peking University and Faculty Advisor of the IEEE PES Peking University Student Branch Chapter; Cao Shang, Third-Level Top Expert of China Southern Power Grid AI Technology Co., Ltd.; Kang Chongqing, Dean of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University and Chair of IEEE PCCC; and Sun Kai, Deputy Dean of the Department of Electrical Engineering. The event was hosted by Zhong Haiwang, Deputy Secretary-General of IEEE PCCC and tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University.

The event consisted of two major segments: first, the IEEE PES Day keynote reports, followed by a series of roundtable forum activities.

At the beginning of the event, Jessica Bian and Kang Chongqing delivered opening remarks. As former President of IEEE PES, Jessica Bian shared her experiences and insights from working with IEEE PES in her remarks. She noted that participating in professional academic organizations is not only an important avenue for academic growth but also a process of self-discovery and capacity building. She encouraged young students to actively engage in IEEE PES volunteer activities and international academic exchanges, to broaden their horizons and clarify their research directions amidst the global energy transition, and to find the intersection between personal development and the demands of the times.

Jessica Bian delivering remarks

Kang Chongqing delivered a speech. He noted that this event, as part of the IEEE PES Day 2026 China series, aims to explore the deep integration of artificial intelligence and the power energy sector. Currently, computility-electricity coordination is becoming a new trend in industry development. The bidirectional synergy between computing power and electric power requires not only leveraging AI technologies to empower energy system development but also providing reliable power support for data centers. He called on young scholars to actively participate in IEEE PES activities, integrate their personal careers with the development of PES, and contribute to the power energy sector in China and globally.

Kang Chongqing delivering remarks

During the keynote report session, three experts and scholars delivered insightful academic presentations.

Jessica Bian presented a report titled "Challenges & Opportunities in Sustainable Energy." Starting from the electricity business model in Thomas Edison's era, she analyzed the current challenges and opportunities facing the energy transition in North America. She pointed out that the explosive growth of AI data centers is reshaping electricity demand patterns, and that energy storage technologies, advanced transmission technologies, and demand-side response will be key to addressing this challenge. She called for accelerating the sustainable energy transition through market mechanisms and technological innovation.

Jessica Bian delivering a keynote report

Zhang Jun presented a report titled "Frontier Technologies in Generative Artificial Intelligence and Their Digital-Intelligent Applications in Power Systems." He systematically reviewed the technological evolution path of AI foundation models from the first to the fourth generation, analyzing the trends of technological change from ChatGPT to GPT-6. He highlighted the key role of "Harness Engineering" in industrial-grade AI applications, sharing his team's engineering practices in scenarios such as intelligent equipment status diagnosis and automated substation ticketing, demonstrating the remarkable efficiency of AI technology in compressing tasks that traditionally took days into just over ten minutes.

Zhang Jun delivering a keynote report

Wang Yi presented a report titled "Agentic AI Empowers New Power Systems: A New Paradigm for Prediction and Decision-Making Based on Human-Machine Interaction." Addressing the dynamic challenges in power system prediction and decision-making, he proposed a new AI paradigm based on human-machine interaction. Through case studies such as interactive load forecasting and rule-driven power market bidding strategy generation, he demonstrated how to leverage large language models to bridge natural language, mathematical language, and code language, enabling deep collaboration between business personnel and AI systems, thereby improving prediction accuracy and decision-making reliability.

Wang Yi delivering a keynote report

The roundtable forum, hosted by Zhong Haiwang, focused on in-depth discussions around the theme of "AI-Empowered New Power Systems." Guests including Jessica Bian, Zhang Xiaofeng, Zhang Jun, Wang Yi, Sun Mingyang, and Cao Shang participated in the discussion, sharing perspectives on the application prospects and challenges of AI technologies in the energy and power sector from various viewpoints.

Roundtable forum scene

The event fostered a lively atmosphere, with faculty and students from Tsinghua University, Peking University, North China Electric Power University, Beijing Jiaotong University, and other institutions actively posing questions and engaging in in-depth exchanges with experts on cutting-edge issues such as AI interpretability, few-shot learning, and human-machine collaboration mechanisms. The event not only enabled students to learn cutting-edge knowledge about the integration of AI and new power systems but also kept them informed of the latest industry developments and technological trends through the keynote reports and roundtable discussions. The students found the experience highly rewarding.

At the event

Group photo

The event concluded successfully. IEEE PES Day China events will continue to serve as an important bridge connecting academia and industry, as well as China and the world, contributing Chinese wisdom to the advancement of global energy transition and sustainable development.