A chip company released the AIDC energy storage certification standard. What makes NVIDIA qualified? As computing power reconstructs the power supply logic, who is taking the lead and who is being blocked out?
Yujian Energy has learned that recently, NVIDIA released a "Self-Certification Guide for Energy Storage Systems". There are 10 strict indicators, 12 actual tests plus simulation comparisons, and the measurement accuracy is set at ±0.2% for voltage and ±0.2% for current. A company that sells graphics cards has set an entry threshold for the energy storage industry.
Most people's first reaction might be: You don't produce energy storage equipment. Why do you get to set the rules?
But actually, while NVIDIA is redefining computing power, it is also redefining how data centers consume electricity.
From the first introduction of the 800V HVDC architecture in GB200 in 2025 to the single cabinet power consumption of Vera Rubin NVL72 approaching 225k in 2026. In the era of Agentic AI, thousands of GPUs in an AIDC can increase from 10% power consumption to 100% within milliseconds. For a 100MW AIDC, the grid load may suddenly experience a step-by-step surge of tens of thousands of kilowatts. Traditional UPS and diesel generators simply can't keep up. When energy storage is written into the top-level design of AI data centers, but in the form of a certification threshold set by a chip company, it makes the entire industry both excited and uneasy.
01
The certification boundary is set on the AC side
It tests the PCS, not the battery
The special thing about NVIDIA's guide is that it only focuses on the PCS (Power Conversion System) and ignores everything else. What's the battery capacity? It doesn't matter. What's the topology on the DC side? It doesn't matter. What kind of battery cells are used? It also doesn't matter. The certification boundary is set on the AC side, and the PCS is the only object to be evaluated.
Among the 10 strict indicators, the "AI buffer dynamic response" requires that the system should not experience oscillations or control "chasing" during rapid power conversion; the "Telemetry and control" requires that all nodes be polled at a frequency of 1 second and support 3 concurrent Modbus TCP (Industrial Ethernet communication protocol) connections; the "Control transparency" requires the provision of an EMT (Electromagnetic Transient) model and impedance/admittance scanning verification, and it must also comply with the NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation) reliability guidelines. All 12 hardware actual tests plus simulation comparisons are required before certification can be submitted. In addition to the technical threshold, manufacturers also have to submit the PCS delivery volume in the past 12 months and an executable plan to achieve a 10-fold expansion in production within 24 months.
NVIDIA stated in its technical blog that the BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) is an "intelligent and controllable power asset", not a passive energy storage warehouse. The complexity of the BESS in an AIDC factory far exceeds capacity verification - it is a control system that interacts deeply with the power grid and requires a full-stack collaborative design of software and hardware, rather than "determining the capacity first and then configuring the control". Simply piling up hardware cannot solve the control problem. Fast telemetry, real-time analysis, and a linked control architecture are the keys to the design. No matter how large the battery is, if the control logic is not good, it still won't pass.
This means that the competition dimensions of competing for production capacity and cost in the energy storage industry in the past few years are no longer effective under this standard.
02
The game rules have changed
Those who take the lead are already on the way
At the beginning of June, Siemens officially released the reference electrical and power architecture design for the NVIDIA DSX Vera Rubin NVL72 platform. Fluence's SmartStack battery energy storage system was included in it and became the only explicitly designated battery energy storage partner in this reference design. The capital market responded with a 43.8% increase on that day. The total facility capacity of this reference design is 136MW, of which the IT load is 100MW, and the SmartStack energy storage system configured by Fluence is 120MW/240MWh.
But rather than being a victory in a technical bid, Fluence's getting this position is more like an early lock-in of the industrial chain's right to speak. Fluence itself is a joint venture between Siemens and the American power company AES. Being included in the official reference design of its parent company is essentially an "ecological niche inheritance". It's very difficult for other independent energy storage companies to replicate this structural advantage.
After NVIDIA's guide came out, the whole path became clearer, but it's also so narrow that it's intimidating. The market space is not small, but there are really enough competitors. CLSA estimates that the construction of AIDCs in China in the next five years will bring an additional demand of 125GWh for energy storage batteries. Guosheng Securities predicts that from 2026 to 2028, the energy storage for AIDCs in the United States alone will drive an incremental demand of 10GWh, 27GWh, and 39GWh. Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2030, AI data centers will generate an annual additional demand of 321GWh for energy storage.
Some people have already taken the lead. In February this year, Nanjing Guanlong Power won the bid for a power backup project of an NVIDIA data center in Asia. Two sets of 1-megawatt grid-forming energy storage converter integrated systems replaced diesel generators and can provide seamless power backup without delay in case of power failure. Weiguang Energy signed an agreement with Changzhou New North District to build a production base for solid-state transformers in the AIDC scenario in the next three years. Its "Xihe 2.0" can directly convert 10 kV medium voltage to 800 V DC, with a system efficiency of 98.6% and a volume only one-third of that of traditional UPS. According to Eastmoney.com, Sungrow had won more than 11GWh of AIDC energy storage orders in the first half of 2026. Trina Solar's energy storage business increased by more than 300% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, and its overseas business accounted for more than 90%. The orders of Far East Co., Ltd. related to intelligent battery energy storage and computing power AI totaled 737 million yuan in April.
But all these projects started before the official implementation of the certification standard. After the standard came out, latercomers have to go through the whole process from the beginning according to the new rules.
03
The threshold has been set
Who can pass and who can't?
The cruelest part of the certification guide is hidden in the last few pages. Manufacturers have to submit the PCS delivery volume in the past 12 months and an executable plan to expand production by 10 times within 24 months. These two requirements directly block small factories from the door - they can't even gather the certification materials, let alone provide delivery records and expansion commitments.
The AIDC power supply energy storage system involves multi-dimensional tests such as electrical safety, thermal runaway protection, and network security. The certification cycle, capital cost, and technical rectification difficulty are not comparable to those of ordinary industrial and commercial energy storage. A complete AIDC comprehensive energy solution is not a single device certification but a combined verification of multiple components such as energy storage batteries, converters, power distribution equipment, and monitoring systems. Dozens of standard tests such as UL1973 energy storage cell safety, UL9540A whole cabinet thermal runaway spread, and IEC62443 industrial network protection need to be completed simultaneously. The whole process generally takes 12 to 24 months, and the cumulative service fees for testing, rectification, and certification can reach millions of yuan.
The price war in the energy storage industry has escalated from the "cent" level to the "li" level. NVIDIA's guide is like drawing a new starting line. Those with insufficient control ability don't even have the qualification to enter the game. Xu Yanming, a deputy to the National People's Congress, pointed out at the Two Sessions in 2026 that AIDCs require energy storage systems to have the ability to output large instantaneous currents and a millisecond-level response speed, while existing energy storage products still have difficulty fully meeting the high dynamic load requirements in terms of rate performance, dynamic response, and long-term operation stability.
NVIDIA is not taking over the work of the energy storage association but drawing a construction drawing for its own factory. Whoever defines the computing power demand has the right to define the power supply standard. This door is open, but whether one can step through it depends on whether the control algorithm of each PCS is fast enough, the delivery record is solid enough, and the expansion plan is credible enough. Piling up more batteries won't solve this problem.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Yujian Energy", written by Zhao Jianan and published by 36Kr with authorization.