Computing-Electricity Coordination
"Computing-Electricity Coordination" is a national-level strategic new infrastructure project proposed by China at the intersection of the digital economy and the energy revolution. It aims to deeply integrate the two major systems of "computing power" and "electric power" to address the energy challenges brought about by the surge in computing power demand in the AI era.
To help you quickly grasp its core connotation, the table below outlines the key points of computing-electricity coordination:
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Key Aspect |
Description |
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Core Concept |
Computing optimizes electricity, electricity supports computing": Using intelligent computing power to optimize the power system, and using clean electricity to support computing power operations. |
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Strategic Position |
First included in the Government Work Report in 2026, explicitly designated as an important new infrastructure project for cultivating new drivers and developing new quality productive forces . |
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Fundamental Drivers |
The AI boom has made computing power centers high-energy-load facilities. It is projected that by 2030, their electricity consumption will account for 5.3% of the total social electricity consumption (in a high-growth scenario), creating a significant contradiction between power supply and computing power growth. |
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Core Goals |
Through intelligent dispatching, achieve green and low-carbon operations (using more green power), security and reliability (ensuring power supply), and global optimization (reducing costs and energy consumption). |
Why Has It Become a National Strategy?
Elevating computing-electricity coordination to a national strategy primarily stems from the following urgent practical needs:
1. An Inevitable Choice to Solve "Computing Power Thirst": With the development of AI large models, the demand for computing power is growing exponentially, which entails staggering electricity consumption. The International Energy Agency predicts that by 2026, the daily electricity consumption of global data centers could be equivalent to Japan's annual electricity consumption . In China, under an AI boom scenario, the electricity consumption of computing power centers could exceed 700 billion kWh by 2030 . Computing-electricity coordination is precisely a top-level design to address this challenge.
2. A Core Tool to Resolve "Spatial-Temporal Mismatch": China's computing power demand is mainly concentrated in the east (e.g., Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta), while green power resources (wind, solar) are abundant in the west. This pattern of "eastern computing, western electricity," coupled with the intermittent nature of new energy sources, conflicts with the stability requirements of AI training for electricity. Computing-electricity coordination aims to achieve "computing following electricity optimization" through cross-regional dispatch, actively matching computing power to the fluctuations of green power .
3. The Only Path to Achieve the "Dual Carbon" Goals: The digital economy itself is an energy-intensive industry and must pursue a green and low-carbon path. Computing-electricity coordination, by guiding computing power centers to use more green power and promoting the integration of source, grid, load, and storage, is key to achieving high-quality development of both the digital economy and the energy economy .
How to Achieve "Coordination"
Achieving computing-electricity coordination requires comprehensive innovation in technology, mechanisms, and industry, involving several key links:
1. Key Technological Breakthroughs:
Intelligent Dispatching: The core is to break down data barriers between computing and electricity and establish a unified dispatching platform. For example, China Telecom's "Yunting" system has achieved cross-regional computing power task scheduling, keeping the power load adjustment error of computing clusters within 10% .
Energy Storage Systems: Energy storage acts as a "stabilizer" to smooth out fluctuations in green power. It can participate in grid peak shaving to earn profits from peak-valley price differences for computing centers and serve as emergency backup power to ensure reliability. Companies like SenseTime have deployed energy storage in intelligent computing centers and, using energy large models, optimized annual PUE to within 1.28 .
Efficient Power Supply and Cooling: Promote energy-saving technologies like high-voltage DC power supply and liquid cooling to lower the PUE of data centers to even lower levels.
2. Industrial Chain Synergy: The logic of the computing-electricity coordination industry chain is clear, forming a closed loop from "green power supply" to "market trading" :
Upstream (Green Power Supply) : Companies like GCL Energy Technology and Jinkai New Energy provide clean energy such as wind and solar power.
Midstream (Smart Grid & Dispatching) : Companies like NARI Technology and State Grid Info-Telecom are responsible for power transmission and intelligent dispatch.
Downstream (Computing Center Construction & Operation) : Companies like Energy China and Aofu Data build intelligent computing centers and apply energy-saving technologies like liquid cooling.
Mechanism Support: Through the green power trading market, green computing power generates tangible value.
Latest Developments and Future Challenges
Currently, computing-electricity coordination has entered a parallel stage of policy implementation and pilot exploration .
Latest Developments: Beyond being written into policy reports, industry practices are in full swing. China Telecom completed a cross-industry commercial trial of computing-electricity coordinated dispatching . SenseTime jointly released the "Lingang AIDC Computing-Electricity Coordination Platform." State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power led the establishment of the country's first standardization research group for computing-electricity coordination to promote the formulation of national standards .
Challenges Faced: There are four main structural mismatches: spatial mismatch (supply-demand imbalance between east and west),temporal mismatch (fluctuations in new energy vs. rigid computing demands), cost mismatch (technological and economic constraints), and mechanism mismatch (relatively fragmented planning and markets) . Future breakthroughs require continuous efforts in technological R&D, market mechanisms, and cross-departmental coordination .
Computing-electricity coordination transforms China's advantages in the power system into competitive strength in the digital economy . It will profoundly reshape the construction model of computing centers and energy utilization methods, serving as an important foundation supporting the future development of the smart economy.
In the capital market, A-shares saw a wave of limit-up surges last Friday, with companies like GCL Energy Technology and Jinkai New Energy leading the charge . This indicates that the concept of computing-electricity coordination has gained recognition from the capital market. In the future, the real economy is expected to increase investment and construction around this theme. Shenzhen Fholink Technology Co., Ltd. has been deeply involved in the optical communication industry for many years, offering a wealth of optical transmission solutions and supporting optical communication equipment. Both new and old friends are welcome to contact us for consultation at any time!
