Residential electric water heater is a typical thermal energy storage load. The hot water generated by electricity has the thermal storage property, which can consume fluctuating wind power. The load group sliding mode control strategy of electric water heater for absorbing wind power is proposed to control the load group of electric water heater in real time. The control rate is related to the number of electric water heaters and the use of hot water,and has strong robustness for absorbing wind power. A simulation on the load group of electric water heater in a residential area shows that the proposed group sliding mode control strategy of electric water heater can effectively absorb the wind power, which verifies the effectiveness of the load group sliding mode control strategy of electric water heater.