Virtual power plants have officially entered the market. You can "group buy" and sell the electricity generated by the solar panels on your rooftop.

Inside the industrial park in Shunde, Foshan, the rooftop photovoltaic panels on factory buildings covering an area of 47,000 square meters are no longer operating independently. They are aggregated by an invisible "packager" into a 10-megawatt "commodity", which is looking for the most suitable buyer through the Southern Regional Power Spot Market.

On December 29, 2025, the first batch of "atypical" sellers appeared in the trading system of the Southern Regional Power Spot Market. Five virtual power plants from Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhongshan and other places "packaged" a total of about 33 megawatts of dispersed power resources and listed them on the market, participating in the bidding in the way of "quoting quantity and price". This marks that a new business form of aggregating distributed energy and participating in market-based transactions has officially moved from the pilot stage to real transactions.

Official Documents Give the Green Light to "Energy Group Buying"

The game of virtual power plants can be played because the policy framework has been set up first. In March 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Virtual Power Plants". This document, regarded as a "timely rain" by the industry, provides clear quantitative goals and implementation paths.

The core goal of the document is clear. By 2027, the regulation capacity of virtual power plants across the country should reach the threshold of 20 million kilowatts; by 2030, it should more than double, aiming for 50 million kilowatts. This means that in the next few years, it is necessary to aggregate the potential of tens of thousands of distributed power sources in the form of virtual power plants.

The policy clearly defines the identity of virtual power plants - they are not physical power plants, but a "resource aggregator" and "market service provider" based on digital technology. Its task is to integrate massive, dispersed and idle "fragmented" power resources, such as rooftop photovoltaics, small energy storage, and adjustable industrial loads, into a "virtual entity" that can make unified quotations and provide stable power output in the power market.

This seemingly "energy group buying" model actually transforms dispersed resources into tradable power commodities and system regulation capacity through technological aggregation and market mechanisms.

The market response has been rapid. According to public data, by the end of 2025, more than 200 virtual power plant aggregators had emerged across the country, with Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu and other places being the most active. An official document has cleared the institutional obstacles for the "energy group buying" model.

From "Energy Isolates" to "Power Bazaars"

Before the emergence of virtual power plants, the rooftop photovoltaics of dozens of factories in an industrial park were mostly used for self - consumption. The surplus power was either wasted or fed into the grid at a low price passively. They were like unconnected "energy isolates".

The core technology of virtual power plants is to build a "digital bridge" connecting these isolates. Take the "Yuenengtou Virtual Power Plant" operated by Guangdong Power Grid Energy Investment Co., Ltd. as an example. It successfully aggregated multiple dispersed distributed photovoltaic projects under the Zhuhai Science and Technology Industry Group and became one of the first market participants to "taste the crab".

The technical support behind this is a complex cloud - edge collaborative system. Simply put, it needs to accurately predict how much electricity each photovoltaic panel can generate the next day, then automatically decide when and at what power to "group" and sell electricity according to the market electricity price signal, and finally ensure that the total power output after aggregation can accurately fulfill the trading commitment. China Southern Power Grid summarizes this set of capabilities as "observable, measurable, controllable and adjustable".

The benefits are direct. According to preliminary calculations, the annual income of distributed photovoltaic users participating in transactions through the "Yuenengtou" platform is expected to increase by 6% - 7%. For resource providers, joining a virtual power plant is like sending their "bulk power" to a brand - name store, where it can be sold at a better price.

Energy Giants and Newcomers Compete on the Same Stage

A brand - new market track is opening up, attracting various players to enter. By December 2025, in Guangdong alone, there were already 47 virtual power plant operators that had passed the review and publicity in 4 batches.

The participants have diverse backgrounds, resembling a "mixed - ownership" competition. There are traditional power - generation giants like China National Energy Investment Group - it plans to put into operation more than 16 regional virtual power plants by the end of 2026, with a regulation capacity of one million kilowatts, aiming to consolidate its influence in the new power system.

The more active force comes from private enterprises. In areas with a high degree of marketization such as Shenzhen, private enterprises have become the main force in investing and operating virtual power plants. They have flexible mechanisms and are good at exploring diverse dispersed resources such as shopping malls, office buildings, data centers, and charging stations.

Local governments are also exploring ways that suit local endowments. Guangzhou has invested real money for three consecutive years, with a special fund of up to 10 million yuan each year to cultivate the market; Chancheng District in Foshan promotes the "virtual power plant + energy trusteeship" model to help users save electricity costs and earn income; in Zhejiang, some virtual power plant platforms have begun to try to build an incentive mechanism of "basic income + incremental reward" to encourage users to participate more actively in power grid regulation.

Examples of market education are also emerging. In Guangzhou, the virtual power plant platform successfully aggregated 53 charging stations and 163 charging piles with V2G functions. During a power grid peak - shaving operation, these electric vehicles discharged power in reverse, providing a maximum power support of 25,000 kilowatts. Roughly calculated, a car owner can get about 200 yuan in income by discharging 50 kWh of electricity. This real - world incentive is changing people's perception that electric vehicles are just "consumption terminals".

The entry of virtual power plants into the market for trading is far more than just a piece of news on the technology bulletin board. It means that the trading units in the power market are being refined from large - scale power generation units to individual rooftops and charging piles. The "capillaries" of the power system are activated and begin to participate in the overall energy cycle and value distribution.

The essence of this transformation is the further deepening of the commodity attribute of electricity and the further segmentation of the market. When massive "micro - resources" can freely operate in the market in an aggregated form, they not only create incremental income for themselves but also quietly reshape the traditional pattern of "generation - transmission - distribution - consumption" in the power system.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Foreseeing Energy", author: Zhao Jianan. Republished by 36Kr with permission.