China’s first virtual power plant was put into operation on Dec.11 in north China’s Hebei province. Supported by the Internet of Things (IoT), the power plant is expected to achieve massive storage of electricity and strike a balance between power generation, supply and consumption, Science and Technology Daily reported on Dec.13.

The total clean power reserve of the system has reached 20.14 million kilowatts at present, accounting for 57.3 percent of the plant’s total power generation capacity. The proportion of clean electricity is the highest among all provincial-level power systems in China.

The difference between physical power plants and virtual ones is the absence of physical construction and reduced carbon dioxide emissions in virtual plants. The virtual power plant could break the geographical constraints concerning power generation, supply and consumption, and achieve flexible mobilization of resources through control and communication technologies.