Market’s role to be expanded

Source: Xinhua | 2017-04-11

CHINA will encourage domestic power generators, sellers and users to “sign purchase agreements” as the government wants to expand the market’s decisive role in electricity trading, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday.

Power plants and buyers are encouraged to use the agreements to decide on supply and consumption, and “also agree on how to adjust prices according to fluctuations in the market,” the NDRC co-announced with the National Energy Administration.

Medium and long-term agreements are preferred to ensure stable supplies and prices, the two agencies said.

Renewable energy such as wind, nuclear, solar and hydropower will be prioritized for trading among provinces to help boost their use across the country, the NDRC said.

But coal-fired plants should “confine their generation within 80 percent of the planned amount last year” to help cut carbon emissions, the NDRC said.