China to dismantle local power protectionism in push to electrify national grid
State Council directive eyes unified power market, curbing provincial fragmentation to boost green energy expansion and optimise resource flow
Beijing has issued a central directive to dismantle the administrative walls dividing China’s electricity sector, signalling a decisive shift towards a unified national power market designed to support the country’s energy security and green transition.
The goal is to evolve from a collection of isolated provincial markets into an effective and open national energy market, ensuring a high-level, dynamic balance between power supply and demand, according to the State Council’s new guidelines issued on Wednesday.
To achieve this ambition, the document outlined a road map for the next decade with two steps: to “basically” establish a unified national power market by 2030 and to have the system “fully in place” by 2035.
By 2030, China aims for market-traded electricity to hit 70 per cent of its total power consumption. Central to this vision is the full-scale formal operation of a nationwide spot market, allowing for the buying and selling of power, supported by synchronised technical standards and a market-based pricing mechanism that ensures fair competition across provincial lines.
By 2035, Beijing envisions the full realisation of a mature, unified national power market, which would allow for better integration of interprovincial and local trading, thereby enabling the optimal allocation of energy resources on a national scale.
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