2024 is the tenth year of General Secretary Xi Jinping's new energy security strategy of "four revolutions and one cooperation". China's electric power system reform has achieved gratifying results, the formation of market-oriented electricity prices has been gradually straightened out, and the construction of electricity spot market has made remarkable progress. In February 2025, under the guidance of the Notice on Deepening the Marketization Reform of New Energy On-grid Tariff (FGJG [2025] No.136), all localities accelerated the promotion of the full marketization of new energy on-grid tariff. As of July 2025, Shanxi, Guangdong, Shandong, Gansu, Mengxi and Hubei have been put into formal operation , while Zhejiang, Anhui, Shaanxi, Liaoning, Hebei Southern Network and Southern Region have entered continuous settlement trial operation . While promoting the sustainable development of the photovoltaic industry , the photovoltaic industry is also facing challenges in terms of operation and electricity trading.
First, there are three main aspects of the reform of photovoltaic grid price market reform
No.136. The first is to promote the formation of new energy grid price by the market in an all-round way. In principle, all the on-grid electricity of new energy projects will enter the electricity market, and the on-grid electricity price will be formed through market transactions. The second is to establish a price settlement mechanism to support the sustainable development of new energy. After new energy participates in market transactions, a sustainable development price settlement mechanism is established in the settlement link, and the electricity included in the mechanism is settled according to the mechanism price. The three is to distinguish the classification of stock and incremental projects. The mechanism price of stock projects is properly linked up with the current policy, and the mechanism price of incremental projects is determined by market-oriented bidding.
Improve the price settlement mechanism for sustainable development of new energy. New energy power generation is random, volatile and intermittent , especially photovoltaic power generation is concentrated at noon. After full participation in market transactions, the power supply at noon increases significantly, the price decreases significantly, and there is almost no power generation output during the high peak electricity price period in the evening, so the actual income of new energy may fluctuate significantly. Therefore, No.136 proposes to establish a new energy sustainable development price settlement mechanism, which compensates the price difference when the market transaction price is lower than mechanism price, and deducts the price difference when it is higher than mechanism price. Through the differential settlement method of " more refund and less compensation ", enterprises can have reasonable and stable expectations, thus promoting the steady and healthy development of the industry and helping to achieve the goal of "double carbon".
The following table simulates three photovoltaic power generation projects at different power generation nodes, whose station transaction prices are 250, 280 and 290 yuan/MWh respectively, and the mechanism price is 340 yuan/MWh. Assuming that there are only three projects in a certain area, they are calculated according to the above formula. Its comprehensive settlement price is 310, 340 and 350 yuan/MWh respectively. The calculation process is shown in the following table:
Stock and incremental items are subject to different policies. Document No.136 fully considers that new energy has the characteristics of large proportion of fixed investment cost and small proportion of variable cost. With the technological progress and continuous reduction of cost, the operating cost of new and old projects is quite different. The reform needs to balance the relationship between new and old projects. Therefore, No.136 requires that the stock and increment be distinguished and different policies be implemented, that is, the stock and increment items are divided on June 1, 2025. Among them, for the stock projects put into operation before June 1, 2025, the electricity price will be properly linked up with the current policy through price difference settlement; for the incremental projects put into operation on or after June 1, 2025, the scale of electricity included in the mechanism will be dynamically adjusted according to the completion of new energy development goals in various regions specified by the state, and the mechanism electricity price will be determined by various regions through market-oriented bidding.
2. The photovoltaic installed capacity of Shandong Province ranks first in the country in the case
of photovoltaic participating in the electricity market in typical provinces, and the spot electricity market in Shandong Province was put into operation on June 17, 2024. The total amount of electricity generated by new energy power generation projects is cleared in the spot electricity market. On August 1, 2025, the Development and Reform Commission of Shandong Province issued a notice on the public solicitation of opinions on the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of Price Bidding for New Energy Mechanisms in Shandong Province (Draft for Opinions), which once again stipulated the conditions for grid connection and declaration of new energy projects. The clearing price of
electricity spot market is affected by real-time supply and demand . The photovoltaic output level is higher from 9 o'clock to 16 o'clock every day, and the supply is usually greater than demand, resulting in low or even negative electricity prices. The figure below shows the comparison between the annual time-sharing average real-time price in 2024 and the provincial centralized PV time-sharing output. There is a strong negative correlation between the PV output and the real-time price, and the annual PV capture price is 202 yuan/MWh. The capture price is the weighted average price of the annual PV output level and the corresponding real-time market price.
As shown in the figure below, the PV capture price shows obvious seasonal characteristics according to the real-time market price, that is, during the "summer peak" period, the spot price of electricity is the highest, and the PV capture price is also the highest in the same period.
From the perspective of actual settlement, in 2024, the centralized photovoltaic settlement electricity in Shandong Province was 20.388 billion kWh, and the settlement price was 345.45 yuan/MWh, which was 12.3% lower than coal-fired benchmark price of 394.9 yuan/MWh. In the whole year of 2024, no photovoltaic station will actively participate in medium and long-term contract transactions, and the mode of "priority settlement of electricity" will be adopted. In the same period, the wind power settlement price was 356.88 yuan/MWh, which was about 3% higher than photovoltaic settlement price.
3. Challenges and strategies
of photovoltaic participation in the electricity market After new energy enters the electricity market in an all-round way, the traditional utilization hours will be difficult to be used as a direct basis for economic calculation and evaluation, and it will be difficult to achieve the expected benefits in the whole life cycle only by focusing on production, operation and maintenance. Therefore, the main body of photovoltaic investment and power generation operation need to carry out economic benefit analysis under the power market before project investment, assess the market risk in advance, and put forward corresponding coping strategies; In the stage of transaction operation, it is necessary to improve the forecasting ability of multi-time scale new energy output, and rationally arrange the proportion of medium and long-term and spot market transactions, so as to reduce the uncertain risk of market electricity price and the pressure of deviation assessment.
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