New power spot market rules to support joint bidding by new energy paired with energy storage

According to Securities Daily, the National Development and Reform Commission has released the draft Basic Rules for the Electric Power Spot Market for public consultation on 22 October 2026. The draft document allows new energy projects and their on-site supporting energy storage facilities to register as a single joint bidder to take part in all stages of the power spot market, including bidding, market clearing, dispatching, settlement and performance assessment.

The joint bidding mechanism completes the spot market revenue channel for energy storage, forming a three-income framework covering electric energy, capacity and ancillary services, the same outlet reported.

Mandatory energy storage requirements previously forced developers to build storage facilities solely to secure grid connection approval. Many investors cut costs to meet entry standards, leading to idle storage assets with poor operational performance. The circular on deepening market-oriented reforms for on-grid electricity tariffs for new energy removed mandatory storage requirements, while the circular on improving capacity tariff mechanisms for power generation established capacity tariffs for independent energy storage. The newly released draft rules open up spot market revenue for on-site storage facilities of new energy projects.

The overlapping policies shift energy storage earnings from single policy subsidies to multiple revenue streams. Multiple operational details remain to be clarified in follow-up supporting rules, including capacity conversion ratios, allocation of charging and discharging losses and the division of assessment liabilities.

Small and medium-sized power stations lack professional trading and forecasting personnel. These market participants can entrust virtual power plants, load aggregators, electricity retailers or professional trading service providers to act on their behalf in market transactions.

The new energy storage sector will shift from rapid capacity expansion to high-quality development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Enterprises will prioritise technological upgrading and refined operation over scale expansion. Market regulators will continue to push forward power spot market reforms, improve pricing mechanisms for energy storage and optimise cost transmission arrangements.