Китай свяжет новые ИИ-дата-центры с зелёной энергетикой: план ВИЭ на 2026–2030

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and National Energy Administration (NEA) issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development" (2026–2030) in July 2026, which requires coordinating the construction of new data centers with renewable energy generation and increasing the share of green electricity powering digital infrastructure.

What the new plan requires

The "15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development" mandates that new data centers be planned jointly with renewable generation facilities and requires unlocking, by category, the potential for spatiotemporal regulation of computing load. The document was signed by two key regulators — the NDRC and the NEA — according to business outlet 36Kr.

The document treats digital infrastructure as a separate category of energy consumer and requires increasing the share of renewables within it — not only for new facilities, but also for those already in operation. This is the first level: linking data centers' electricity demand to the national renewable energy development program.

Key provisions of the plan regarding digital infrastructure:

• Authors: National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and National Energy Administration (NEA)
• Document: "15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development," horizon — 2026–2030
• Joint planning of new data centers and renewable generation facilities
• Direct connection to green power (绿电直连) and the "source-grid-load-storage" integration model (源网荷储一体化)
• Growing share of renewables in the energy consumption of already-operating digital infrastructure

How green energy will be routed to data centers

The plan rests on two engineering mechanisms. The first is direct connection of data centers to "green" generation (绿电直连), where a facility receives electricity directly from solar or wind plants, bypassing the general grid. The second is the integrated "source-grid-load-storage" scheme (源网荷储一体化), which combines generation, transmission, consumption, and storage into a single managed loop.

Separately, the plan requires "unlocking, by category, the spatiotemporal potential for regulating computing load" — that is, shifting data center load in time and across regions so that it coincides with peaks in wind and solar output.

Why this matters for AI

Data centers serving AI workloads are one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand in China, and the 2026–2030 plan directly addresses computing load (算力负荷, "suanli"). Regulators are tying further growth in computing capacity to a mandatory increase in the share of green energy powering it — for both new and already-built facilities.

Spatiotemporal regulation of computing load (算力负荷) is not a new idea for power engineers: some computations, such as model training, can be run during hours of surplus wind and solar power. The 2026–2030 plan turns this flexibility from a technical possibility into a government policy requirement.

This links two of China's national strategies: scaling computing infrastructure for AI and shifting the energy sector to renewable sources. According to 36Kr, the requirement extends to existing digital infrastructure as well, not just new projects.

"Steadily raise the level of green electricity consumption by digital infrastructure," the text of the "15th

Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development" states.

What it means

China is embedding AI infrastructure's power supply into its nationwide climate agenda: new data centers will be built alongside green generation, while computing load will be adjusted to match renewable output. For operators, this means access to "clean" energy is becoming part of the rules of the game through 2030.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is China's 15th Five-Year Plan?

The 15th Five-Year Plan (十五五) is China's national development planning cycle for 2026–2030. The "Renewable Energy Development Plan" for this period sets targets for green generation, including power supply for data centers.

What is direct connection to green power (绿电直连)?

It is a mechanism by which a data center or other large consumer receives electricity directly from renewable generation facilities (solar, wind), bypassing the general grid. The plan names it as one of the ways to increase the share of green energy powering digital infrastructure.