From August 21 to 22, 2025, the Inaugural Conference of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee of the China Energy Research Society (hereafter "Professional Committee") and the 2nd Virtual Power Plant (Shanghai) Summit Forum were held in Shanghai. Shi Yubo, Chairman of the China Energy Research Society; Sun Zhengyun, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General; Chen Xiaofen, Supervisor; Zhu Minglin, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission; Ge Dongbo, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization; Wei Ping, Director of the Market Supervision Division of the East China Regulatory Bureau of the National Energy Administration; Gu Chunhua, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Shanghai University of Electric Power; Liang Xu, President of the Shanghai Electric Power Industry Association and Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Company; Kang Chongqing, Director of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University; as well as over 50 committee representatives from research institutions, universities, enterprises and other units, and nearly 1,000 guests attended the conference in a combination of online and offline formats. The conference and related activities were live-streamed by CNBR (China National Radio Online) throughout the whole process, with the cumulative number of online viewers exceeding 1 million.
At the inaugural meeting of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee of the China Energy Research Society held on August 21, the director, executive deputy director and deputy directors of the first committee were elected. Kang Chongqing was elected as the director, Sheng Ming as the executive deputy director, and Jiang Yingwei, Guo Qi, An Na, Fan Pengfei, Zhu Jiong, Han Bing and Fei Zhi as deputy directors. Upon nomination by the director, the Professional Committee appointed Zhou Quan as the secretary-general, and Zhao Hong, Li Jianfeng, etc. as deputy secretaries-general.
At the meeting, Professor Kang Chongqing, Director of the Professional Committee, delivered a statement on behalf of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee. He pointed out that the national level attaches great importance to its development, and a number of policies have been intensively introduced, which have clarified the development goals and implementation paths for it. In the future, the Professional Committee will give full play to its platform role, pool industry consensus, build an industrial ecosystem, continuously promote technological research and development and mechanism innovation, accelerate standard formulation and characteristic demonstration applications, help virtual power plants move towards standardization, scaling, and digital intelligence, and drive the coordinated development of upstream and downstream industrial chains.
Supervisor Chen Xiaofen stated that the preparation procedures of the Professional Committee are compliant and complete, the documents and materials are complete and effective, and the election process is open and transparent, which is in line with the relevant provisions of the Society's charter and the management measures for branches. The Professional Committee focuses on integrating industry resources, gathering the power of industry, academia, and research, promoting technological innovation and industrial upgrading of virtual power plants, serving the national energy strategic needs, enhancing the core competitiveness of the new energy industry, and leading the future energy technological revolution and industrial transformation.
In his concluding speech, Chairman Shi Yubo pointed out that the current global energy pattern is undergoing profound changes, and China's energy transformation has entered a critical stage. To achieve the "dual carbon" goals and build a new power system, there is an urgent need for the innovation and application of new energy technologies such as virtual power plants. The establishment of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee is an important measure for the Society to serve the national strategy and improve the energy discipline system, marking that its research capabilities and industry influence in the field of new power systems have reached a new level. It is hoped that the Professional Committee will adhere to political leadership and actively serve the national strategy; deepen industry-academia-research collaboration to promote key technological breakthroughs and standard construction; promote cross-border integration and practical application, accelerate the transformation of achievement and industrial upgrading, and make positive contributions to China's energy green transformation and the construction of a new power system.
The establishment of the Professional Committee has built a high-end exchange and cooperation platform for the virtual power plant field. In the future, the Professional Committee will accurately meet the needs of energy development, gather the strength of universities, research institutions, enterprises and other parties, and through various measures such as organizing technical seminars, conferences, and carrying out case demonstrations, create a high-quality development ecology for the virtual power plant industry and help China's energy cause move towards a new journey of green and low-carbon development.
On August 22, at the Virtual Power Plant Summit Forum, Chairman Shi Yubo delivered a congratulatory speech on behalf of the China Energy Research Society via video. Subsequently, Deputy Director Zhu Minglin, Deputy Director Ge Dongbo, Director Wei Ping, President Gu Chunhua, and President Liang Xu delivered speeches focusing on the strategic layout, construction achievements, market environment, practice planning, and development paths of Shanghai's virtual power plants respectively.
During the forum, the much-watched licensing ceremony for the establishment of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee of the China Energy Research Society was held. Sun Zhengyun, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Energy Research Society, presented the plaque to Professor Kang Chongqing, Director of the Professional Committee and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University, adding another highlight to this grand event focusing on the high-quality development of virtual power plants.
In the keynote speech session, Sheng Ming, Deputy General Manager of State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Company; Guo Qi, Vice President of China Southern Power Grid Science Research Institute; and Kang Chongqing, Director of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee of the China Energy Research Society and Director of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University, gave reports under the titles "Leading the Way · Gathering Momentum and Empowering: Practice and Innovation of Virtual Power Plants in Shanghai's Megacity", "Exploration and Practice of Virtual Power Plant Technology in China Southern Power Grid", and "Domestic and International Practice and Development Direction of Virtual Power Plants" respectively. Among them, Professor Kang Chongqing focused on introducing the international trends in virtual power plant technologies and models, analyzed the similarities and differences in the development of virtual power plants at home and abroad through detailed data and case comparisons, and pointed out the three core challenges currently faced: technological integration, market access, and business models. Finally, combining the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Virtual Power Plants issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, as well as domestic cases such as the secondary frequency modulation auxiliary services of virtual power plants in Shanghai and Zhejiang, Professor Kang Chongqing proposed a development path for virtual power plants featuring "solid core technologies", "flexible policies", and "pioneering standards", providing theoretical guidance for the industry upgrade.
After the keynote speeches, Professor Kang Chongqing hosted a roundtable dialogue. Guest representatives from various sectors conducted in-depth discussions on hot issues such as technological breakthroughs, business model innovation, and policy optimization, reaching multiple consensuses and providing both forward-looking and practical references for virtual power plants to move from "conceptual exploration" to "large-scale application".
This Inaugural Conference of the Virtual Power Plant Professional Committee of the China Energy Research Society and the 2nd Virtual Power Plant (Shanghai) Summit Forum addressed mechanism barriers through closed-door consultations, clarified the development direction through policy interpretation, sparked innovative ideas through technical exchanges, and explored scenario potential in depth through domain-specific discussions. With a full-chain agenda and refined design, it formed top-level consensuses on policies, technologies, and markets, as well as practical plans for segmented fields, anchoring the value coordinates for the development of the industry.
