Ein Chiphersteller veröffentlicht den AIDC-Standard für Energiespeicherzertifizierung – worauf gründet NVIDIA ihre Position? Wer die Logik der Stromversorgung durch die Rekonstruktion der Rechenleistung neu definiert, geht voran – und wer bleibt außen vor?
Foresighted Energy has learned that recently, NVIDIA has released a "Self - Certification Guideline for Energy Storage Systems". Ten strict criteria, 12 practical tests plus simulation comparisons. The measurement accuracy is ±0.2% for voltage and ±0.2% for current. A company that sells graphics cards has set an approval threshold for the energy storage industry.
Most people's first reaction might be: You don't produce energy storage devices. On what basis do you set the rules?
Actually, NVIDIA not only re - defines computing power but also power usage in data centers.
From the first introduction of the 800V HVDC architecture in GB200 in 2025 to the approaching of the single - computer performance of Vera Rubin NVL72 to 225k in 2026. In the era of Agentic AI, thousands of GPUs in AIDC will be ramped up from 10% to 100% of their performance in milliseconds. For a 100MW AIDC, the grid load can suddenly increase by several ten - thousand kilowatts. Traditional UPS systems and diesel generators cannot keep up. If energy storage is incorporated into the top - design of AI data centers in the form of a certification threshold set by a chip company, this makes the entire industry both excited and restless.
01
The certification threshold is on the AC side
It's about the PCS, not the battery
The special thing about this NVIDIA guideline is that it only focuses on the PCS (Energy Storage Inverter). What's the capacity of the battery? 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 threshold is on the AC side, and the PCS is the only test object.
Among the 10 strict criteria, the "Dynamic Reaction of AI Buffering" requires that the system must not have oscillations or "tracking" of the control during rapid power transformations; the "Remote Measurement and Control" requires that all nodes be queried at a frequency of 1 second and support 3 parallel Modbus - TCP connections (Industrial Ethernet Communication Protocol); the "Transparency of Control" requires the provision of an EMT model (Electromagnetic Transients) and verification through impedance / admittance scans and must also meet the reliability guidelines of the NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation). Only after 12 practical hardware tests plus simulation comparisons can the certification be applied for. In addition to the technical requirements, manufacturers must also submit the PCS supply volume of the last 12 months and a feasible plan for ten - fold capacity expansion within 24 months.
NVIDIA wrote in a technical blog: A BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) is an "intelligent, controllable power asset", not a passive energy storage. The complexity of a BESS in an AIDC factory goes far beyond capacity determination - it is a control system that is deeply integrated into the power grid and requires a holistic software and hardware design concept, not "determine capacity first and then assign control". The accumulation of hardware cannot solve the control problems. Fast remote measurement, real - time analysis, and a coordinated control structure are the key points of the design. Even if the battery is very large, the system cannot work if the control logic doesn't function.
This means that the competition dimensions of the energy storage industry in recent years, which targeted capacity and cost, no longer apply in this standard.
02
The rules of the game have changed
The frontrunners are already on the way
In early June, Siemens officially released a reference electrical and power supply architecture design for the NVIDIA DSX Vera Rubin NVL72 platform for AI factories. Fluence's SmartStack battery energy storage system was included, and it is the only clearly specified battery storage partner in this reference design. The capital markets reacted with a 43.8% stock price increase on the same day. The total power of this reference plant is 136MW, of which 100MW is for the IT load. The SmartStack storage system configured by Fluence has a power of 120MW/240MWh.
The fact that Fluence has obtained this position is more of a pre - determination of power in the industrial chain than a victory in a technical competition. Fluence itself is a joint venture between Siemens and the American power supply company AES. Being included in the official reference design of the parent company is essentially a "niche transfer". Other independent energy storage companies can hardly imitate these structural advantages.
After the release of the NVIDIA guideline, the path has become clearer, but also narrower and more threatening. The market is large, but there are many competitors. CLSA estimates that AIDC buildings in China will generate an additional demand for 125GWh of energy storage batteries in the next five years. Guosheng Securities predicts that energy storage in AIDC in the United States will stimulate additional volumes of 10GWh, 27GWh, and 39GWh from 2026 to 2028. Morgan Stanley predicts that AI data centers will generate an additional annual demand for 321GWh of energy storage by 2030.
Some have already started to take the lead. In February this year, Nanjing Guanlong Electric Power won a project for the emergency power supply of an NVIDIA data center in Asia. Two 1 - megawatt grid - forming energy storage inverter systems replace diesel generators and can ensure seamless emergency power supply without delay in case of a power outage. Weiguang Energy has signed a contract in Changzhou New North District and plans to build a production base for solid - state transformers for AIDC scenarios in the next three years. Its "Xihe 2.0" directly converts 10 - kV medium - voltage to 800 - V DC voltage, the system efficiency is 98.6%, and the volume is only one - third of a traditional UPS system. According to the Orient Wealth Network, Sungrow received AIDC energy storage orders of over 11GWh in the first half of 2026. Trina Solar recorded an increase in energy storage of over 300% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the previous year, and the overseas share is over 90%. In April, Far East Co., Ltd. received orders worth 737 million yuan in the fields of intelligent battery storage and computing power - AI.
But all these projects were started before the certification standards officially came into effect. After the release of the standards, the laggards have to start the whole process from scratch.
03
The threshold is set
Who can cross it, who can't?
The sharpest part of the certification guideline is hidden in the last pages. Manufacturers must submit the PCS supply volume of the last 12 months and a feasible plan for ten - fold capacity expansion within 24 months. These two points directly exclude small companies - they can't even compile the certification documents, let alone provide supply evidence and capacity expansion commitments.
The energy storage system for AIDC power supply requires multi - dimensional tests in terms of electrical safety, thermal runaway protection, and network security. The certification duration, capital cost, and difficulty of technical adaptation are not comparable to those of ordinary commercial energy storage. A complete AIDC - integrated energy package is not just the certification of a single device, but the combined verification of energy storage batteries, inverters, switchgear, and monitoring systems. Dozens of standards such as UL1973 battery safety, UL9540A thermal runaway propagation in the entire cabinet, and IEC62443 industrial network security must be tested simultaneously. The whole process usually takes 12 to 24 months, and the costs for tests, adaptations, and certifications can total several hundred thousand yuan.
The price competition in the energy storage industry has intensified from the "Fen" level to the "Li" level. This NVIDIA guideline is like a new starting line. Companies with insufficient control capabilities don't even have a chance to participate in the game. Xu Yanming, a deputy to the National People's Congress, pointed out at the National Assembly in 2026 that AIDC requires energy storage systems with the ability to deliver a large amount of power instantaneously and a reaction time in the millisecond range, while the existing energy storage products still can hardly meet the requirements for highly dynamic loads in terms of C - rating, dynamic reaction, and long - term stability.
NVIDIA doesn't want to take over the work of the energy storage association, but to create a blueprint for its own factory. Whoever defines the computing power requirements has the right to determine the power supply standards. The door is open, but whether one can pass through it depends on whether the control algorithms of the PCS are fast enough, whether the supply evidence is solid enough, and whether the capacity expansion plans are credible enough. Even if one arranges many batteries, this problem can't be solved.
This article is from the WeChat account "Foresighted Energy", author: Zhao Jianan, published by 36Kr with permission.