From Alignment to action: ODCA at Global Direct Current Alliances Meeting in Beijing

Following the kick-off of the Global Direct Current Alliances Meeting in Beijing, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: the conversation around DC is maturing fast. While it’s great to see strong global alignment across alliances, the real value lies in the substance behind it.

Here are a few key themes emerging from the discussions:

• Electrification is the foundation for carbon neutrality: especially through DC buildings and bidirectional EV integration
• AI-driven data center growth is creating real urgency: the demand is no longer theoretical, it’s happening now
• We are moving from pilots to real deployment: with specific steps towards commercialization, including large-scale DC infrastructure
• Standards and data models are becoming critical bottlenecks: particularly for DC-specific components not yet covered by existing frameworks
• Collaboration is no longer optional: no single alliance, company, or region can solve this alone

From an ODCA perspective, this reinforces a clear priority: enabling interoperable, scalable DC ecosystems, particularly for high-growth environments like data centers.

What stood out most is how aligned and complementary the perspectives are. With Hartwig Stammberger and Dominik Maihöfner representing ODCA at the meeting, discussions with Bin Hao (PEDF), Vincenzo Salmeri (Current/OS), Ma Dejun (CDCA), Suhwan Kim (KEPCO / KDCA), Dusan Brhlik (eMerge Alliance), Antonello Antoniazzi (ABB) and Andrea Quarteroni (Schneider Electric) amongst others made it clear that progress happens where research, industry, and standardization efforts truly connect.

Our takeaway: The six global DC alliances are committed to collaborating on the development of direct current applications.