en.Wedoany.com Reported - The General Office of the State Council of China issued the "Implementation Opinions on Improving the National Unified Electricity Market System," which points the way for further advancing the construction of the national unified power construction market. This marks a new stage in the construction of the national unified electricity market and holds significant importance for building a new power system and advancing energy transition to serve the "dual carbon" goals.
1. Significant Achievements in the Construction of the National Unified Electricity Market
Since the implementation of the new round of power system reform, China's electricity market reform has accelerated, and the decisive role of the market in ensuring power supply and promoting resource allocation has been fully leveraged, providing solid energy support for high-quality economic and social development.
First, the organization of power production has shifted from planning to the market. Following the reform principle of "regulating the middle and liberalizing both ends," the generation and consumption plans have been gradually liberalized, promoting a market-oriented transformation of power production organization. Competitive pricing on both the generation and consumption sides is now entirely market-formed, with over 1 million registered market entities and more than 5,000 electricity retail companies, basically forming a "multiple buyers and sellers" pattern. The profit model of grid enterprises has shifted from "purchase-sale price difference" to transmission and distribution tariffs, and electricity trading institutions operate independently and in a standardized manner. The level of grid interconnection continues to improve, with national inter-provincial and inter-regional transmission capacity exceeding 370 million kilowatts, laying a solid physical foundation for the unified electricity market. In 2025, national inter-provincial and inter-regional transaction volume reached 1.59 trillion kilowatt-hours, accounting for about one-quarter of the total transaction volume, effectively promoting large-scale optimized allocation of power resources.
Second, the market's resource allocation capability has significantly enhanced. A preliminary "1+6" basic rule system covering all varieties and aspects of the electricity market has been established, laying an institutional foundation for the free flow of electricity as a commodity. Medium- to long-term and spot market "full coverage" has been achieved both inter-provincially and intra-provincially. The green power and green certificate mechanisms are increasingly refined, and auxiliary service markets and capacity compensation mechanisms are basically established, ensuring fair market access and equal competition for all types of market entities. The average sales electricity price has remained relatively low among major global economies over the long term. In 2025, national market-based electricity transaction volume reached 6.6 trillion kilowatt-hours, accounting for 64% of total electricity consumption, providing important support for the development of the real economy and the improvement of people's livelihoods.
Third, high-quality service for green energy transition has been achieved. To achieve the "dual carbon" goals, energy is the main battlefield, and electricity is the main force. Market mechanisms adapted to the characteristics of high-penetration renewable energy have been continuously improved, with the proportion of market-based new energy electricity exceeding 60%. Innovative designs for green power and green certificate trading varieties, as well as trading models for large-scale renewable energy bases in deserts and Gobi areas, have been created to support the high-quality development and integration of new energy. Currently, the cumulative national transaction volume of green power is 657.5 billion kilowatt-hours and green certificates are 1.483 billion, effectively enhancing the momentum for green transition.
With the deepening advancement of the "dual carbon" goals and the construction of the new power system, the electricity market also faces new challenges. On one hand, China's reverse distribution of energy resources requires further removal of market barriers to achieve large-scale optimized allocation of power resources nationwide. On the other hand, stimulating the vitality of new quality productive forces in the energy sector requires fully leveraging the guiding role of market prices, promoting the formation of sustainable business models, improving governance capabilities across all market segments, and facilitating the development of new entities and new business forms.
2. Deepening the Construction of the National Unified Electricity Market is of Great Significance and Urgent
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is the decisive period for China to achieve its carbon peak goal, a critical period for the replacement of old and new energy systems, and a crucial period for deepening electricity market reform. Aligning with the decisions and deployments proposed by the Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee regarding building a national unified electricity market and improving market and price mechanisms adapted to the new energy system, it is necessary to seriously analyze the new situations and requirements facing market construction and accurately grasp the direction of market development.
Deepening the construction of the national unified electricity market is an important component of building a national unified market. Building a national unified market is not only necessary for constructing a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development but also for gaining the initiative in international competition. It is necessary to align with the basic requirements of "five unifications and one openness" for advancing the construction of the national unified market, focus on removing institutional barriers that restrict the smooth flow of power resources nationwide, promote the transformation of inter-provincial and intra-provincial transactions from separate operations to coordinated design, accelerate collaborative coupling, and achieve more flexible and efficient optimized allocation of power resources on a larger scale.
Deepening the construction of the national unified electricity market is an important support for building a new power system. Currently, the technical characteristics of the new power system are undergoing profound changes, urgently requiring the formation of a "dual-drive" of technological innovation and institutional reform. On one hand, guided by technology, technological innovation and industrial innovation should be integrated in areas such as grid technology, information and communication, and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, supported by theory, a trading variety system with more complete categories and clearer functional positioning should be continuously improved to achieve precise market reflection of the multi-dimensional value of various resources.
Deepening the construction of the national unified electricity market is an important lever for promoting energy transition and achieving the "dual carbon" goals. China has proposed new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets for 2035, with new energy installed capacity expected to reach 3.6 billion kilowatts. It is essential to incentivize the construction of flexible and reliable resources through market-oriented means, enhance system regulation capabilities, and accommodate the full market entry of new energy with high quality. Meanwhile, domestic and international policy situations such as carbon emission dual control and the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism impose higher requirements for accelerating the construction of a product carbon footprint standard accounting system and promoting hourly matching and physical traceability of green power transactions.
Deepening the construction of the national unified electricity market is an important measure for cultivating new quality productive forces in the energy sector. Under the new round of technological and industrial revolution, emerging business forms such as data centers, renewable energy hydrogen production, and the "new three" (referring to new energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products) are developing rapidly, expected to contribute over 40% to the growth of total electricity consumption. This presents both potential opportunities for system development and higher requirements for system capacity. It is necessary to accelerate market mechanism innovation, promote the construction of new production relations adapted to the development of new quality productive forces, and empower the development of new business forms.
3. Comprehensively and Systematically Advancing the Construction of the National Unified Electricity Market
The "Opinions" thoroughly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, accurately grasp deep-seated issues in market construction, propose solutions after in-depth research, and are characterized by strong systematicity, comprehensive and closely connected construction tasks; strong professionalism, with clear construction goals and paths; and strong operability, with specific measures closely aligned with reality and easy to implement. The "Opinions" focus on the full market scope, all trading varieties, participation of all entities, and full-process governance, and for the first time propose the "Four Comprehensives" development path for the electricity market, pointing the direction for continuously deepening market construction.
Based on the full market scope, promote the efficient allocation of power resources on a larger scale. The "Opinions" closely adhere to the requirement of "unifying factor resource markets," focus on promoting the coordinated integration of inter-provincial and intra-provincial markets, and clarify the evolutionary direction of "unified declaration, coordinated clearing," which is a strategic upgrade of the market development path. The "Opinions" also require conducting inter-provincial multi-channel centralized optimization and exploring intra-regional power mutual aid transactions to continuously improve the efficiency of resource optimization and allocation in inter-provincial markets.
Improve all trading varieties, and健全 the integrated operation system of the electricity market. The "Opinions" emphasize that various trading varieties should be designed and operated in an integrated manner. Regarding the electric energy market, efforts will continue to promote the refined and standardized operation of the medium- and long-term market and promote the basic realization of formal operation of the spot market by 2027. Regarding the green power market, encouraging the implementation of inter-provincial new energy priority generation plans in the form of green power transactions, promoting trading models such as multi-year contracts and aggregated trading, and accelerating the establishment of a green power consumption certification mechanism. Regarding the auxiliary service market, enriching trading varieties that reflect the system's flexible regulation capability, and effectively transmitting auxiliary service costs according to the principle of "who benefits, who pays." Regarding the capacity market, exploring a capacity market to ensure long-term system capacity safety and adequacy through market-oriented means.
Promote the participation of all entities, and foster full competition on both generation and consumption sides. The "Opinions" require promoting equal and broad participation of various market entities in the electricity market. On the generation side, scientifically arrange inter-provincial and inter-regional priority generation scale plans, reasonably expand the scale of inter-provincial autonomous market-based power transmission, and advance the entry of gas, hydropower, nuclear power, and other power sources into the electricity market in a categorized and paced manner. On the user side, gradually reduce the scale of proxy electricity procurement, promote direct participation of 10 kV and above users in the electricity market, and encourage and support demand-side resources to participate in the electricity market. For new market entities, promote the flexible participation of virtual power plants, smart microgrids, and adjustable loads in the electricity market, and ensure they fairly bear transmission and distribution costs, system regulation responsibilities, etc.
Strengthen full-process governance, focus on improving the operation of the electricity market
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