China on track for unified power market

China is on track to establish a national unified power market by 2029, with a preliminary structure to be established by 2025, according to a recently released bluebook by the China Electricity Council.

Clear pathways will be defined for renewable energy participation and mechanisms to ensure reasonable returns on renewable energy investments will be explored in the next few years, according to the National Unified Power Market Development Plan Bluebook released by the council in Beijing on Friday.

According to the bluebook, before 2025, more than 50 percent of renewable energy will be integrated into the market and all kinds of renewable energy will fully participate in the market by 2029, with steady progress in the marketization of hydropower, nuclear power, and distributed renewable energy.

China is already accelerating the pace of renewable energy market integration. In 2023, the total market-based electricity transactions for renewable energy nationwide reached 684.5 billion kilowatt-hours, accounting for 47.3 percent of all renewable energy generated, with some large power companies seeing their share of renewable energy in market transactions exceed 50 percent, it said.