Power market trading volumes surge across State Grid service territory in first half of 2026

The Beijing Power Exchange Centre hosted a press briefing on 16 July, releasing trading statistics, supply-demand analysis and operational monitoring reports for China’s electricity market covering the first six months of 2026. Market-based electricity trading within the State Grid operational region reached 3.4798 trillion kilowatt-hours in the period, marking a year-on-year rise of 25.6 per cent.

Inter-provincial market transaction volumes continue to expand. The inter-provincial medium-and-long-term market has launched continuous trading on a calendar-day basis. By the end of June, the Beijing Power Exchange Centre had organised 2,697 inter-provincial market transactions, with traded electricity totalling 1.6374 trillion kilowatt-hours, an increase of 9.9 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Medium-and-long-term electricity transactions are arranged systematically to secure power supply amid peak summer demand. The centre carries out rolling assessments of supply and demand balance for the summer months and coordinates power resources across the whole grid. Targeted cross-provincial and cross-regional trading for July and August has delivered medium-and-long-term transaction volumes of 351.1 billion kilowatt-hours, 19.3 billion kilowatt-hours higher than the corresponding period in 2025. The maximum power delivered via cross-regional medium-and-long-term transmission links stands at 168 million kilowatts, up 13.6 per cent year on year.

Medium-and-long-term markets operate on a continuous footing. Inter-provincial markets and medium-and-long-term trading platforms in key provincial regions have adopted daily continuous operation starting from 15 June. Higher trading frequency supports more efficient allocation of power resources nationwide.

Innovative trading mechanisms for transmission rights have been put into practice. China’s pilot transmission rights transaction has been completed successfully. A total of 97 market participants submitted bids, and the cleared volume hit 21 million kilowatt-hours, enabling full-capacity delivery along the Yunxiao HVDC transmission corridor.

Market operations actively facilitate the consumption of clean energy. Based on hydrological inflow forecasts, additional power delivery agreements have been secured for major hydropower stations including the Three Gorges, Baihetan, Xiangjiaba and Xiluodu, amounting to 22.9 billion kilowatt-hours. Transactions enabling clean power generated in Panxi, Sichuan, to be transmitted to Jiangxi and Zhejiang register 6.9 billion kilowatt-hours. Additional power transmission deals cover new energy linked to the Tianzhong, Lingshao, Lugu and Zhaoyi transmission routes, alongside surplus renewable power traded between provinces across North China, Northeast China and Northwest China, reaching 83.5 billion kilowatt-hours in aggregate.