VPP Control System Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing only started to move in the last few years — the midpoint year (2022) shows zero filings, and the peak of 13 arrives in 2025, so this is a technology whose patent record is almost entirely recent.
- China dominates the filing base — 25 of 28 records route through the Chinese receiving office against 2 in the US and 1 in India, concentrating both the prior art and the likely litigation venue in one jurisdiction.
- Control claims are shared with software and AI filings, not just grid hardware — 13 of 28 records also carry a G06Q business-data IPC code and 8 carry G06N AI-model codes, meaning dispatch-optimization claims increasingly overlap software patent practice.
Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 28 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
A virtual power plant control system aggregates distributed energy resources — batteries, rooftop solar, demand-response loads, EVs — behind a single dispatch and optimization layer that a grid operator or market participant treats as one controllable plant. The patents in this set claim the aggregation, hierarchical dispatch, and real-time optimization logic that makes that abstraction work, not the underlying generation or storage hardware itself. The core claim territory sits in H02J (power supply and grid systems), present in 27 of 28 records, with a secondary cluster of G06Q business-process and G06N AI-model claims layered on top of the grid-control base.
That layering matters for freedom-to-operate work: a dispatch algorithm claim can be blocked by a grid-control patent, a business-method patent, or an AI-model patent depending on how the applicant drafted it, so a single-IPC search will miss adjacent blocking art.
Filing trend and technology composition
Twenty-eight patent families make up this dataset, spanning the 2015 start of the search window through the partial 2026 year. The shape of the curve, and the mix of IPC codes attached to each filing, tell a fairly consistent story about how young and how China-centred this claim space still is.
A late, steep filing curve
Filings were flat through 2017 and stayed at zero at the 2022 midpoint, then climbed sharply to a peak of 13 in 2025 — the classic shape of a technology that has just crossed from research demonstration into filed IP, with 2026 undercounted because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months.
Grid control first, software and AI layered on top
H02J appears in 27 of 28 records, confirming this is fundamentally a grid-control art; G06Q (13 records) and G06N (8 records) show that dispatch-optimization and aggregation logic is increasingly claimed as software and machine-learning method steps rather than pure electrical control, which widens the prior-art search any FTO analysis needs to run.
Shares are the percentage of the 28 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Virtual Power Plant Control System with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about virtual power plant control system and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
Blockchain-based virtual power plant management (US20250167550A1)
The system combines an event-driven demand-response and flexible-resource allocation module, a blockchain-based data-collaboration module for sharing and transacting data among VPP participants, and a visualization module for real-time operational display — bundling market coordination, data trust, and dispatch control into one architecture.Filed by South China University of Technology, published 2025-05-22 — one of only two US-routed families in the set.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN110416998A | 一种基于虚拟发电厂的地区复杂配网调度控制管理系统 | 65 |
| 2 | CN117578473A | 基于负荷控制成本的虚拟电厂资源优化调度方法及系统 | 15 |
| 3 | CN120474103A | 基于多智能体的虚拟电厂智能控制方法及系统 | 11 |
| 4 | US20250167550A1 | Systems and methods for blockchain-based virtual power plant management | 10 |
| 5 | CN117318027A | 一种基于EMD的虚拟电厂日前-实时频率调控方法 | 8 |
| 6 | CN117748614A | 一种基于资源聚类的虚拟电厂分层控制方法及系统 | 7 |
| 7 | CN110620380A | 一种虚拟电厂控制系统 | 7 |
| 8 | CN120955806A | 基于分散复杂自适应体系的配电网虚拟电厂聚合控制方法 | 4 |
| 9 | CN120150262A | 基于数字孪生的虚拟电厂多层级协同优化控制方法 | 4 |
| 10 | CN117614030A | 一种虚拟电厂分层协同调度方法和装置 | 3 |
Citation counts are drawn from a searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns in this dataset are worth acting on directly: where filing volume actually sits, who is filing together, and where recent momentum has stalled rather than grown.
Prior art and risk both sit in one jurisdiction
With 25 of 28 families routed through the Chinese receiving office against 2 in the US and 1 in India, a freedom-to-operate search that skips Chinese-language full text will miss most of the relevant claims.
Growth is still accelerating, not plateauing
Zero filings at the 2022 midpoint followed by a peak of 13 in 2025 indicates the field only recently moved from pilot demonstrations to filed IP; the 2026 count will rise as pending applications publish.
Utility-university pairings are the collaboration norm
All four identified co-assignee pairs combine a provincial grid company with a university, a pattern consistent with grid operators sourcing dispatch-algorithm IP through academic partnerships rather than in-house R&D alone.
Early leaders have gone quiet in the latest year
Several of the most active historical assignees, including provincial grid research institutes, show zero filings in the latest year with -100% YoY change, suggesting either a pause in filing strategy or a shift toward filings not yet published.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to virtual power plant control system, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the claim space is still open
The assignee base is dominated by Chinese grid-company and university filers, with a long tail of single- or low-volume entrants. Momentum data shows even the more active filers cooling off in the most recent year, which is more likely a publication-lag artefact than a genuine retreat from the space.
Grid operators anchor the applicant base
Provincial and municipal grid-company entities appear repeatedly across the assignee list, reflecting that VPP control systems are being built and patented close to the operators who will actually deploy them on live networks.
University partnerships supply algorithmic depth
Co-filing pairs consistently link a grid company with a university, pointing to academic labs as the source of the optimization and control-theory claims that grid entities then commercialize.
US and Indian filings are still rare and recent
The two US-routed families and single Indian family are both recent, suggesting non-Chinese filers are only beginning to stake claims in VPP control logic rather than having an established position.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| State Grid Shandong Electric Power Company | 0 | -100% |
| State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company | 0 | -100% |
| South China University of Technology | 0 | — |
| North China Electric Power University | 0 | — |
| Changsha University of Science & Technology | 0 | — |
| Shenzhen Power Energy Technology Group Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a young, China-centred field with claim territory split across grid-control, software and AI codes. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific branches.
Map the G06Q and G06N overlap in detail
Business-process and AI-model codes appear alongside H02J in a large share of records; pulling those claims separately shows which dispatch-optimization steps are claimed as software rather than as grid control, which changes how a design-around is drafted.
Explore in EurekaTrack the 2025 filing spike as it publishes forward
The jump to 13 filings in 2025 is the newest signal in the dataset and the least settled; monitoring which assignees file the 2026 continuations will show whether the recent-year momentum dip in leading filers is real or a publication-lag effect.
Explore in EurekaRun full-text search on the Chinese-language corpus
With 25 of 28 families routed through China, an FTO review limited to English abstracts will miss the bulk of the relevant claim language; a native full-text pass on the highest-cited families is the next practical step.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions about VPP control system patents
It typically claims the aggregation, hierarchical dispatch, or real-time optimization logic that lets a group of distributed energy resources — batteries, solar, demand-response loads — be operated as a single controllable unit. The claims sit in grid-control IPC codes like H02J but frequently also carry business-process (G06Q) or AI-model (G06N) codes because the dispatch decision itself is often expressed as a software or machine-learning method. The hardware — the battery, the inverter, the meter — is usually claimed elsewhere; this category is about the control and coordination layer sitting above it.
The assignee base in this dataset is led by Chinese grid-company entities and universities, with several provincial grid research institutes and technical universities appearing repeatedly, often as co-assignees on the same filing. There is a long tail of single-filing entrants rather than a small handful of firms holding most of the volume. Recent-year momentum data shows even the more active historical filers reporting zero filings in the latest year, though that likely reflects publication lag rather than an actual pullback.
Of the 28 families in this dataset, 25 route through the Chinese receiving office against 2 in the US and 1 in India. This concentration likely reflects both China's rapid buildout of distributed energy resources needing aggregation and dispatch software, and its grid operators' practice of filing algorithmic control patents jointly with university research partners. For a company evaluating freedom to operate, this means the bulk of the relevant prior art will only surface through a Chinese-language full-text search.
The filing curve suggests it is still early rather than mature: filings were at zero at the 2022 midpoint of the search window and only reached a peak of 13 in the most recent full year, 2025. That late, steep curve is typical of a technology that has just moved from pilot demonstration into filed IP, which means claim space in adjacent branches — multi-agent dispatch, blockchain-based data sharing among VPP participants, EMD-based frequency regulation — is still comparatively open.
US20250167550A1, filed by South China University of Technology and published 2025-05-22, claims a blockchain-based virtual power plant management system combining an event-driven demand-response allocation module, a blockchain data-collaboration module for participant data sharing, and a visualization module for real-time operational display. It is one of only two US-routed families in this dataset, so its practical blocking effect is narrower than its citation count might suggest — it constrains US filings that combine blockchain data-sharing with VPP dispatch specifically, not VPP control generally. Anyone designing a similar system should check whether their data-sharing layer avoids the blockchain-specific claim language rather than assuming the whole architecture is blocked.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.