Foresee Energy learned that NVIDIA recently released a "Self-Certification Guide for Energy Storage Systems," which sets 10 mandatory metrics, 12 items requiring actual measurements plus simulation comparisons, with measurement accuracy strictly defined at voltage ±0.2% and current ±0.2%. A graphics card company is drawing the entry line for the energy storage industry.
Most people's initial reaction is probably: You don't even manufacture energy storage equipment, what gives you the right to set the rules?
But in reality, as NVIDIA is redefining computing power, it's also redefining how data centers consume electricity.
From the GB200 in 2025 which first introduced the 800V HVDC architecture, to the Vera Rubin NVL72 in 2026 with a single cabinet power consumption approaching 225kW. In the Agentic AI era, thousands of GPUs within an AIDC can ramp from 10% to 100% power in milliseconds. For a 100MW AIDC, this could cause grid load to surge by tens of thousands of kilowatts instantaneously. Traditional UPS systems and diesel generators simply cannot keep up. While energy storage is being integrated into the top-level design of AI data centers, the method of its integration—through certification thresholds set by a chip company—leaves the entire industry both excited and uneasy.
01
Certification Boundary Drawn on the AC Side
It Tests the PCS, Not the Battery
The uniqueness of NVIDIA's guide lies in the fact that it focuses solely on the PCS (Power Conversion System). Battery capacity? Irrelevant. DC-side topology? Irrelevant. Battery cell type? Also irrelevant. The certification boundary is set on the AC side, with the PCS being the sole object of assessment.
Among the 10 mandatory metrics, "AI Buffer Dynamic Response" requires the system to avoid oscillations or control "chasing" during rapid power conversion; "Telemetry & Control" demands polling of all nodes at a 1Hz frequency, supporting 3 concurrent Modbus TCP connections; "Control Transparency" requires providing EMT (Electromagnetic Transient) models and impedance/admittance scan verification, and compliance with NERC reliability guidelines. All 12 items require both hardware measurements and simulation comparisons before submission for certification. Beyond the technical threshold, manufacturers must also submit their PCS delivery volume over the past 12 months and a viable plan to achieve a 10x production expansion within 24 months.
In a technical blog, NVIDIA stated: A BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) is an "intelligent, controllable electrical asset," not a passive storage warehouse. The complexity of a BESS in an AIDC factory far exceeds capacity rating—it's a control system deeply interacting with the grid, requiring full-stack co-design of hardware and software, rather than "determining capacity first, then matching control." Hardware specs alone cannot solve control issues; rapid telemetry, real-time analytics, and coordinated control architecture are key to the design. No matter how large the battery, poor control logic means failure to pass certification.
This means the competition dimensions the energy storage industry has focused on in recent years—capacity and cost—become invalid under this standard.
02
The Game Has Changed
Those Who Jumped the Gun Are Already on the Road
In early June, Siemens officially released its reference electrical and power architecture design for the NVIDIA DSX Vera Rubin NVL72 platform. Fluence's SmartStack battery energy storage system was incorporated, becoming the only explicitly designated battery storage partner in this reference design, which was met with a 43.8% stock surge on the same day. This reference design has a total facility capacity of 136MW, with IT load at 100MW. The SmartStack energy storage system configured by Fluence is 120MW/240MWh.
However, Fluence securing this position is less a victory in a technical bid and more a case of pre-emptive locking of industry chain influence. Fluence itself is a joint venture between Siemens and the American power company AES. Being included in the parent company's official reference design is essentially "niche inheritance." Other independent energy storage companies find it difficult to replicate this structural advantage.
With the release of NVIDIA's guide, the path has become clearer, but also dauntingly narrow. The market potential is not small, but are the competitors really enough? CLSA estimates that AIDC construction in China over the next five years will bring 125GWh of new demand for energy storage batteries. Guosheng Securities forecasts that just AIDC deployments in the US from 2026 to 2028 could drive incremental demand of 10GWh, 27GWh, and 39GWh, respectively. Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2030, AI data centers will generate 321GWh of annual new energy storage demand.
Some are already racing ahead. In February of this year, Nanjing Guanlong Power won a bid for a backup power project at an NVIDIA data center in Asia, supplying two sets of 1MW grid-forming energy storage converter integrated systems to replace diesel generators, enabling zero-delay seamless backup during power loss. WeiGuang Energy signed an agreement for the Changzhou Xinbei District, planning to build a solid-state transformer production base for AIDC scenarios over the next three years. Its "Xihe 2.0" system directly converts 10kV medium voltage to 800V DC, achieving a system efficiency of 98.6% and a volume only one-third that of a traditional UPS. According to Eastmoney.com, Sungrow Power had secured over 11GWh of AIDC energy storage orders by the first half of 2026. Trina Solar's energy storage business grew by over 300% year-on-year in Q1 2026, with overseas business accounting for over 90% of the total. In April, Far East Smarter Energy's orders involving smart battery storage and computing power/AI amounted to a combined 7.37 billion yuan.
However, all these projects broke ground before the formal release of the certification standards. After the standards are out, latecomers must follow the new rules from scratch.
03
The Threshold is Set
Who Can Pass, and Who Cannot?
The most brutal part of the certification guide is hidden in its final pages. Manufacturers must submit their PCS delivery volume from the past 12 months and a credible plan for 10x production expansion within 24 months. These two requirements alone shut out small manufacturers—they can't even gather the materials for certification, let alone provide delivery records or expansion commitments.
AIDC power supply energy storage systems involve multi-dimensional testing covering electrical safety, thermal runaway protection, and cybersecurity. The certification cycle, capital costs, and technical rectification difficulty are incomparable to those of typical commercial & industrial energy storage. A complete AIDC integrated energy solution isn't a single device certification; it's a combined verification of energy storage batteries, converters, power distribution equipment, and monitoring systems. It requires simultaneous completion of dozens of standard tests like UL1973 for battery cell safety, UL9540A for cabinet-level thermal runaway propagation, and IEC62443 for industrial network protection. The entire process typically takes 12 to 24 months, with cumulative costs for testing, rectification, and certification services reaching millions of RMB.
Price wars in the energy storage industry have escalated from competition at the "fen" level to the "li" level. NVIDIA's guide essentially draws a new starting line. Those lacking sufficient control capability don't even get a seat at the table. At the 2026 Two Sessions, National People's Congress representative Xu Yanming pointed out that AIDCs require energy storage systems to possess instantaneous high-current output capability and millisecond-level response speed. However, existing energy storage products still struggle to fully meet the high dynamic load demands in terms of rate performance, dynamic response, and long-term operational stability.
NVIDIA isn't trying to do the work of an energy storage association; it's drawing blueprints for its own factories. Whoever defines the computing power requirements has the right to define the power supply standards. This door has been opened, but whether one can step through depends on whether each company's PCS control algorithms are fast enough, their delivery records solid enough, and their expansion plans credible enough. Piling batteries higher won't solve this problem.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Foresee Energy," author: Zhao Jianan.
