Project: Sino-German Energy Partnership

The Action Plan for High-Quality Distribution Grid Development (2024–2027) issued by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) complements the broader strategy outlined in the Action Plan for Accelerating the New Type Power System (2024–2027). This plan specifically focuses on upgrading China’s distribution grid to meet the challenges posed by the energy transition and the nation’s carbon neutrality goals. It aims to ensure the grid’s capacity to handle the increasing demand from emerging market participants such as distributed renewable energy sources and electric vehicles (EVs).

In August 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), National Energy Administration (NEA), and National Data Administration (NDA) jointly released the “Action Plan for Accelerating the New Type Power System (2024–2027)”. This action plan is designed to advance China’s energy transition and align it with national goals to achieve carbon peaking and neutrality (“dual carbon” targets). It addresses pressing challenges in power system transformation, such as grid modernisation, renewable energy integration, and energy security.

On 14 May 2024, the NDRC published the Basic Rules for Power Market Operation. This marks the first revision of these rules in 19 years. The new market operation rules are a comprehensive package divided into eleven chapters and 45 articles, and define significant changes compared to the 2005 version. The new electricity market operation rules came into effect on 1 July 2024 and aim to improve various aspects of market design and operation.

In January, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in collaboration with the National Energy Administration (NEA), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), released implementation guidelines to enhance the integration of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) into the power grid. This policy aims to establish a bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system based on charging and swapping facilities, utilising the flexibility of EV batteries as controllable loads or mobile storage.

Data released by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) on January 26 showed that the country’s solar power generation capacity grew by a staggering 55.2% in 2023. The numbers highlight that over 216 GW of solar power have been added during 2023, which equals 14% of the world’s total installed solar PV capacity.

On 8 November 2023, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) issued a policy on establishing a coal power capacity pricing mechanism. The policy proposes adjusting the current single pricing of coal-fired power to a two-part pricing system, comprising capacity pricing and electricity pricing.

On 3 August 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and the National Energy Administration (NEA) issued a notice on expanding the coverage of green electricity certificates (GEC) to promote renewable electricity consumption.