China Releases 51 AI-Energy Scenarios for Power Grid
China has taken a major step toward integrating artificial intelligence into its energy sector, releasing the first batch of 51 high-value “AI + Energy” application scenarios at a national conference in Shenzhen on May 26. The initiative, led by the National Energy Administration (NEA), marks a critical transition from policy formulation to concrete implementation in the country’s strategy to modernize its power infrastructure.
Context and Policy Foundation
The release builds on a multi-layered policy framework established over the past year. In September 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and NEA jointly issued the Implementation Opinions on Promoting “AI +” Energy High-Quality Development, which defined eight major AI application categories in energy. This was followed on May 8, 2026, by the Action Plan on Promoting AI-Energy Mutual Empowerment, jointly issued by four ministries, setting ambitious targets for AI-energy integration by 2030.
According to Xinhua News, the 51 scenarios focus on eight categories of typical application areas, including power grid planning, dispatch operations, virtual power plants, vehicle-grid interaction, and new energy forecasting. At the same conference, the NEA released the China “AI + Energy” Development Report 2026 and interpreted the new action plan.
Key Developments
Twenty-five energy enterprises signed the Initiative on Opening High-Value AI Application Scenarios in the Energy Sector, committing to open their operations to AI-driven innovation. Enterprises with qualifying scenarios can form innovation consortia with AI technology providers and apply for pilot projects through a dedicated online system at ny-ai.cn, with recommendations due by July 30, 2026.
Bian Guangqi, Deputy Director of the NEA Department of Energy Conservation and Technology Equipment, emphasized the scale of the transformation underway. “With the accelerated large-scale application of AI, computing power facilities are leaping from the hundred-thousand-kilowatt level to the million-kilowatt level, placing higher demands on stable, green, and economical energy supply,” he said at the conference, as reported by the Economic Information Daily. He stressed that the integration of AI and energy “is not a single technology application, nor a local exploration by a single enterprise or a single scenario, but a systematic project.”
Analysis and Implications
A central theme of the new policy is “computing-power coordination” (算电协同) — the integration of computing task scheduling with power grid dispatch. This includes co-locating large-scale renewable energy bases with national computing power hubs, exploring direct connections between nuclear power and computing facilities, and strengthening green electricity direct-supply policies.
Sun Chuanwang, a professor at the China Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, told Xinhua that “green electricity will become a key competitive factor for computing power.” He noted that regions with stable, low-cost green power supply will gain advantages in the AI industry competition, and that AI will accelerate its deployment across the entire energy chain, moving from single-point applications to multi-scenario large-scale integration.
According to the People’s Daily, the high-value scenarios were selected based on three criteria: they address pain points that have long constrained industry development, AI technology offers significant potential for transformation, and successful applications can be scaled across the entire energy sector.
Economic and Industry Impact
Yan Jiayuan, an analyst at Caitong Securities, highlighted that the strengthening of two-way coordination between green electricity and computing power benefits green power companies with energy storage capabilities, while also giving power trading companies a first-mover advantage. He noted that direct connections between nuclear power, hydrogen energy, and computing power have emerged as new technical frontiers.
As of 2025, China had built 42 ten-thousand-card-level intelligent computing clusters, with total computing power center electricity consumption reaching 170 billion kWh. The International Energy Agency predicts global data center electricity demand will nearly double from 2025 to 2030, underscoring the urgency of the computing-power coordination approach.
What’s Next
The policy sets clear milestones: by 2027, China aims to establish an initial AI-energy integration framework, deploy five or more specialized large models in power grids and energy sectors, and explore over 100 typical application scenarios. By 2030, the target is to achieve world-leading levels in energy-specific AI technologies and establish a green, economical, and secure computing power energy model.
With pilot project applications due by July 30, the coming months will reveal how quickly China’s energy sector can absorb and deploy AI technologies at scale — a process that could reshape both the country’s power grid and its position in the global AI race.