The Chinese National Energy Administration has announced it plans to establish a national electricity market system by 2030 (Chinese government press release, 27/02/2026). The plan was announced through the issuance of the "Implementation Opinions on Improving the National Unified Electricity Market System" by the Chinese General Office of the State Council. Through the implementation of reforms that allow for the direct participation on the electricity market (with the exception of guarantee users), the government aims to promote market-oriented trading of electricity expecting it to cover 70% of China’s electricity consumption by 2030, and to reach a fully unified national electricity system by 2035.
The reforms will aim to promote the optimal allocation and efficient circulation of power resources nationwide. To do so, it aims to break down inter-provincial barriers and market segmentation through institutional and mechanism innovation and stimulate the market participation of diverse business entities.
The actions are also expected to have a positive impact on the promotion of renewable technologies and efficiency of the power system, since it will allow for the sale and purchase of affordable green new energy more conveniently while also promoting energy security across the country. In general, the NEA expects improvements on the spot market, medium and long-term market, auxiliary service market, green power market, capacity market, and retail market.
The reforms are expected to bring the country’s power system that breaks down the barriers of “source, grid, load and storage” and promote China’s energy transformation as it has also announced that it has reached a new milestone by recording an electricity consumption exceeding the 10,000 TWh in 2025. By the end of 2025, China estimates to have reached a cumulative installed power capacity of about 3.89 TW (+16.1% compared to 2024), including 1.8 TW of wind and solar (47% of the installed capacity).
China aims to invest CYN4tn (USD580bn) during its 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), an increase of 40% compared to the investment made for the previous plan. China Southern Power Grid disclosed that the investment scale in 2026 will be of CYD180bn (USD26bn).
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