China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has proposed revised rules for electricity spot markets, introducing explicit provisions allowing renewable energy projects and their on-site battery storage systems to participate in spot trading as joint bidding entities.
The draft Basic Rules for Electricity Spot Markets, released on October 19, aims to strengthen the framework for China’s emerging unified national electricity market. It would replace the interim rules introduced in 2023, with implementation proposed for January 1, 2027, and a five-year validity period. Public comments are open until November 18.
A key provision, Article 8, supports renewable energy facilities and their co-located energy storage systems participating jointly in market bidding, clearing, dispatch, settlement and performance assessment.
Under the proposed arrangement, a solar or wind power plant could coordinate generation forecasts and battery charging and discharging schedules when submitting bids, rather than necessarily separating the generation and storage assets as different market participants.
This could allow operators to adjust the timing of electricity deliveries in response to spot price signals, shifting output toward higher-priced periods where technically and commercially feasible. Storage could also help manage deviations between forecast and actual renewable generation, potentially reducing imbalance-related costs.
China’s 2023 interim rules already recognized energy storage, distributed generation and virtual power plants as eligible market participants. The new draft goes further by explicitly supporting joint participation by renewable plants and their on-site storage across the market operating process.
However, like many others from central government, the proposed national rules do not specify detailed bidding formats, metering arrangements, battery charging restrictions or settlement calculations for such combined operations.
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