Overview

David Zhao, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist of Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd., delivered a keynote titled “Clean Energy & AI: Powering A New Era” at the “For the Value Beyond Computation” main forum of the 2026 APSARA Conference in Hangzhou on September 23. He outlined ten technology trends that shape the convergence of clean energy and artificial intelligence.

Key Data Points

By mid‑year, China’s installed solar photovoltaic capacity reached 1,286 GW, surpassing coal‑fired power capacity for the first time and becoming the country’s largest source of installed generation capacity. Globally, electrochemical energy storage capacity stands at 700 GWh, representing only 5 % of the 15 TWh projected demand by 2050, indicating a required increase of at least nineteen‑fold.

Growth Outlook and Demand Drivers

Zhao projected rapid growth over the next five years in solar, wind, energy storage, electric vehicles, hydrogen, and power‑supply solutions for AI data centres. AI computing is creating a substantial new electricity demand, with China’s data‑centre electricity consumption expected to reach 800 billion kWh by 2030 and AI‑computing parks potentially requiring hundreds of megawatts to gigawatt‑scale power. National policy mandates that new data centres at designated computing hubs obtain more than 80 % of their electricity from renewable sources, creating simultaneous constraints on total consumption, power density, bus voltage, and renewable share.

Core Challenges

Three major challenges were highlighted: (1) powering AI computing centres under the renewable‑share mandate; (2) scaling solid‑state transformers (SSTs) that can directly convert 10 kV or 35 kV AC to 800 V DC while reducing weight and footprint; and (3) four engineering barriers to applying AI in power electronics – a shortage of real‑world fault data, the inability to rely entirely on AI for microsecond‑level real‑time control, risks of model extrapolation requiring hard physical limits, and the absence of industry standards for accountability of black‑box systems. Zhao called for joint development of explainable AI and industry standards.

Ten Technology Trends

  • Trend 1 – Computing Shifts Toward Renewable Power: Direct renewable supply could lock electricity prices at RMB 0.2–0.3 per kWh and lower total cost of ownership for computing infrastructure.
  • Trend 2 – DC Architecture for AI Computing Centres: The emerging 800 V DC standard aims for end‑to‑end efficiency above 94 %, creating opportunities for SiC and GaN devices, DC circuit breakers and related technologies.
  • Trend 3 – SSTs Move from Demonstration to Commercial Deployment: Data centres are expected to catalyse adoption, with 2027 potentially marking the start of commercial roll‑out; SSTs can reduce footprint by 30 % and weight by 50 %.
  • Trend 5 – Grid‑Forming Control Enabled by Edge AI: Zhao forecasts grid‑forming converters will achieve a penetration rate exceeding 40 % by 2028, becoming a common tender requirement for renewable‑energy and AI‑computing grid connections.
  • Trend 9 – Long‑Duration Energy Storage and Multi‑Energy Systems Become Standard: Iron‑air and iron‑flow batteries can provide hundred‑hour to multi‑day storage; green hydrogen enables seasonal storage; natural‑gas‑paired solid‑oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) serve as peak‑demand backup; combined‑heat‑and‑power (CHP) efficiency can exceed 90 %.
  • Trend 10 – Coordinated Computing and Power Dispatch: Energy‑management systems will coordinate resources across three timescales—milliseconds to seconds, minutes to hours, and days to seasons—allowing GW‑scale AI computing centres to act as flexible, dispatchable assets that can provide frequency regulation, peak shaving and other grid services.

Product Launch: EnerNeo SST

On July 9, Sungrow introduced EnerNeo, its first proprietary solid‑state transformer built on an 800 V DC architecture and equipped with SiC devices. EnerNeo delivers 99.999 % availability, 98.5 % system efficiency and a power density of 312 kW/m². The company signed strategic cooperation and procurement agreements with HEC Group and ZDATA, and has already delivered SST products to customers with commissioning scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026, potentially becoming among the first real‑world 800 V DC SST deployments in an AI computing environment.

Partnerships and Innovation Initiatives

Sungrow has collaborated with Alibaba Cloud since 2015. In July 2026 the two firms jointly established the Green Token Joint Innovation Center to advance lower‑carbon computing infrastructure for AI data centres. Sungrow also proposed an “AI for ALL” system architecture centred on source‑load coordination, direct renewable power supply and coordinated computing and power, applicable to AI computing centres, large‑scale renewable projects and virtual power plants.

Company Impact Metrics

R&D personnel constitute 41 % of Sungrow’s workforce. The company’s power‑electronics equipment now has a cumulative installed capacity of more than 1,100 GW worldwide and has helped reduce 670 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions globally. The brand value proposition is “Bridge to a sustainable future,” reflecting its mission to provide clean power for all while enhancing system efficiency and reliability.

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