Abstract To enhance the economic efficiency and flexibility of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) and address the limitations of traditional battery storage in terms of lifespan, cost, and environmental impact, this paper proposes a capacity configuration and optimized dispatch method for VPPs that incorporates independent energy storage. Initially, a hydrogen energy system centered around hydrogen production electrolyzers, hydrogen fuel cells, and hydrogen storage tanks is constructed to replace traditional batteries. An alkaline electrolyzer wide power adaptation model is introduced, expanding its operational power range to 5%~130%, significantly enhancing the electrolyzer’s ability to handle fluctuations in renewable energy output. Subsequently, the waste heat generated by the operation of the hydrogen energy system is utilized for combined heat and power supply to the load, and the by-product oxygen from the electrolyzer is sold as an industrial product, further reducing the system’s operational costs. On this basis, combined with the Model Predictive Control (MPC) method, a two-stage optimized dispatch strategy for day-ahead declaration and intraday rolling correction is designed. Through dynamic aggregation of distributed energy storage resources and real-time feedback correction, full renewable energy consumption and economic optimization are achieved. Simulation results show that the proposed method significantly improves the economic efficiency and renewable energy consumption capability of the VPP, with a reduction in lifecycle operational costs by approximately 35.15%, an increase in renewable energy consumption rate to 88.41%, and a 28.45% increase in revenue under a 2-hour rolling cycle for the optimized dispatch strategy, with a notable improvement in computational efficiency. KEYWORDS Virtual Power Plant ; Independent Energy Storage; Wide Power Adaptation; Combined Heat and Power; Model Predictive Control