China to build unified power market by 2035

China is on track to establish a national unified power market by 2035, with a preliminary structure to be established by 2025, according to a bluebook released by the China Electricity Council on Friday.

Clear pathways will be defined for renewable energy participation and mechanisms to ensure reasonable returns on renewable energy investments will be explored in the next few years, according to the National Unified Power Market Development Plan Bluebook. The first phase, from 2024 to 2025, is the initial development period.

According to the plan, the top-level design for power market will be largely completed before 2025, with a significant uplift in market-based power trading, and market mechanisms for pricing and transactions promoting green and low-carbon industries of renewable energy and energy storage preliminarily taking shape.

The second phase, from 2026 to 2029, will be the comprehensive development period.

Efforts will be made to push for unified basic market rules, fair and consistent regulation and high-standard market connectivity by 2029. This will include full coverage of provincial-level spot markets and full participation of new energy resources in market transactions, so that power resources will be better allocated and distributed on a greater scale nationwide.

The final phase, from 2030 to 2035, will focus on refinement and improvement.

By 2035, China will basically realize national unified power market, with unified rules, technical standards, operational platforms and market supervision.

The goal is to create a more equitable and dynamic market environment where electricity prices could fully reflect the value of various resources, so that power resources will be better allocated with highly efficient usage in an all-round way nationwide.

China to build unified power market by 2035

China has remained the world's largest online retail market for a 13th consecutive year, with its digital consumption exceeding 23.8 trillion yuan (about 3.39 trillion U.S. dollars), official data shows.

The figure was released at a national e-commerce work conference held from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The conference said that China's e-commerce sector has achieved solid gains in high-quality development over the past five years, emerging as a new source of momentum to foster new quality productive forces and playing an important role in advancing the country's new development paradigm.

Despite rising external uncertainties, China has continued to expand its win-win cooperation, increasing the number of Silk Road e-commerce cooperation partner countries to 36.

E-commerce has become a major engine for job creation and industrial upgrading. Employment in the sector has surpassed 78 million, and express delivery volumes have seen an average annual growth of nearly 20 percent over the past five years.

Software and information services linked to cloud computing and big data have also expanded rapidly.

The conference outlined the Ministry of Commerce's e-commerce policy priorities for 2026, including strengthening innovation-driven growth, improving the country's development environment, and expanding international cooperation.

China remains world's largest online retail market for 13th straight year