PTRs as Green Power Compliance Certificates: Cross-Province Computing-Electricity Coordination Model for Data Centers

Under the East Data, West Computing (EDWC) Project, cross-province computing power transfer is a key path to absorb green power in western China and achieve carbon neutrality for data centers. However, the current cross-province green power trading faces the pain point of "separation of certificate and power": green power can be physically transmitted across provinces, but its green attributes cannot be certified for compliance at the receiving end. This causes data centers to face high penalty costs for failing to meet green power compliance requirements, which severely restricts the economic feasibility of cross-province computing-electricity coordination. To solve this problem, this paper proposes to use physical transmission rights (PTRs) as the compliance certificate for the cross-province transfer of green power attributes, and constructs an intra-day coordinated optimization model for dual data centers integrating computing power dispatch, transmission right trading and green power compliance accounting. Against the background of the green power pattern of "Southwest hydropower + Northwest wind and solar power", the model sets up two comparison scenarios of "absence of transmission rights"and "binding of transmission rights"to quantitatively evaluate the cost optimization effect of the transmission right mechanism. The research shows that PTRs can resolve the high institutional penalty risk with extremely low transaction costs, and are a necessary institutional tool to realize full-chain traceability, certification and compliance of cross-province green power.