State Grid and China Telecom successfully transfer computing power across provinces

The State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Co, together with China Telecom, ran a successful technical test of rapidly transferring multi-task computing power across provinces between Shanghai and Fujian province on December 3.

The trial achieved China's first automated, high-precision transfer of large-scale computing power clusters across provincial boundaries. It verified the feasibility of a fully automated process that enables direct control of computing power resources, offering an innovative pathway for large data centers to participate more flexibly in grid regulation and enhance energy security for major cities.

"From receiving instructions to generating strategies, shifting tasks and monitoring loads, the entire process can now be controlled within seconds and responds within minutes," Jiang Liu, deputy general manager of China Telecom's computing power company in Shanghai's Lin-gang Special Area, said.

Traditionally, data centers supported grid regulation using diesel generators, UPS systems, and thermal-storage equipment. This test instead tapped into computing power as an adjustable resource.

"This verification shows that computing power is not only a productive force, it can also become a regulating force for the power grid," Zhao Jianli, deputy director of the demand-side management center at State Grid Shanghai's operation and service center, said.

Once fully applied in the Lin-gang computing power hub, the technology could provide several megawatts of virtual power plant response capacity. The State Grid Shanghai said it will continue advancing the technology for regional computing power coordination and green-energy tracing to support safer and greener energy operations in megacities.