Guangdong electricity spot market

China — Guangdong. Status: formal operation.

Wholesale design: Provincial organized wholesale market with medium- and long-term trading and a continuously operating spot market; also represented in the non-additive Southern Regional market layer.

Market type
Provincial market
Nominal frequency
50 Hz
Where energy trades

Where does energy trade in Guangdong electricity spot market?

Energy in Guangdong electricity spot market trades in 4 layers: medium- and long-term, spot, ancillary services and southern regional.

What a battery can sell

What ancillary services can a battery sell in Guangdong electricity spot market?

Guangdong electricity spot market has 4 ancillary-service products, across 4 families — regulation, operating reserve, ramping reserve and other services: Frequency regulation ancillary service, Peak regulation ancillary service, Ramping ancillary service, Reserve ancillary service. Response timing, direction and eligibility for each are in the cards below, as the official sources state them.

Facts below are stated as the official sources state them. A missing line means the source does not state that value — never that the value is zero.

Regulation

  • Frequency regulation ancillary service

    national category with local market rules

    Correct system frequency and power-balance deviations using resources that satisfy locally specified regulation performance requirements.

    Direction
    upward and downward according to local implementation
    Stated response
    local implementation rule; the national rules set no product deadline
    Trigger / range
    frequency or control-error deviation under local technical rules; no universal deadband is published
    Typical procurement
    provincial or regional implementation
    Pricing
    local implementation under the national price mechanism

Operating reserve

  • Reserve ancillary service

    national category with local market rules

    Maintain available upward or downward capability to address contingencies, forecast error and other system imbalances.

    Direction
    upward and downward according to local implementation
    Stated response
    local implementation rule; reserve categories and deadlines are not normalized across provinces
    Trigger / range
    system reserve need under local technical rules; no single national activation threshold is published
    Typical procurement
    provincial or regional implementation
    Pricing
    local implementation under the national price mechanism

Ramping reserve

  • Ramping ancillary service

    national category available for local implementation

    Provide ramping capability for forecast net-load changes and renewable-output variability beyond ordinary scheduling needs.

    Direction
    upward and downward according to local implementation
    Stated response
    local ramp product definition
    Trigger / range
    forecast or operating ramp need under local rules; no national numeric threshold is published
    Typical procurement
    provincial or regional implementation
    Pricing
    local implementation under the national price mechanism

Other services

  • Peak regulation ancillary service

    national category; detailed implementation and whether a separate market continues are local-rule dependent

    Provide peak shaving and valley filling to maintain system balance where that function is not already internalized by a continuously operating spot market; this national category is distinct from the separately defined ramping service.

    Direction
    upward and downward according to local implementation
    Stated response
    local implementation rule; the national rules set no product deadline
    Trigger / range
    system operating need; no single national numeric trigger is published
    Typical procurement
    provincial or regional implementation
    Pricing
    local implementation under the national price mechanism

    The 2025 rules state that continuously operating spot-market regions should internalize the peak-regulation function and cease duplicative markets with similar functions.

Getting paid to exist

Does Guangdong electricity spot market have a capacity mechanism?

No central capacity market. Guangdong electricity spot market has 1 capacity/adequacy arrangement — Generation-side capacity-price and reliable-capacity compensation framework — and it works differently. Responsibility sits with National Development and Reform Commission, National Energy Administration and provincial authorities.

Generation-side capacity-price and reliable-capacity compensation framework

national framework with provincial implementation

Eligible coal, gas, pumped-storage and grid-side storage resources receive administratively determined capacity-price or reliable-capacity compensation under national and provincial rules; the framework is not a centralized competitive capacity auction.

administrative eligibility and verified available capacity

provincial implementation

Responsibility
National Development and Reform Commission, National Energy Administration and provincial authorities
Unit of obligation
eligible or reliable capacity under implementing rules
Auction held in 2025
No — The cited framework is an administrative capacity-price mechanism, not a competitive capacity auction.
Revenue routes

Merchant revenue routes

  • contracted energy
  • spot energy
  • ancillary services
  • coal capacity price where eligible
Where this comes from

Official sources

Rules

Market explainer

Capacity-mechanism explainer

Current as of · from the Global Electricity Market Catalogue v1.2.0 (compiled to , CC BY 4.0). Facts belong to the linked official authorities; verify the current rules before design or bidding decisions.

Questions

Common questions about Guangdong electricity spot market

Was a qualifying capacity event held in Guangdong electricity spot market in 2025?
No. Generation-side capacity-price and reliable-capacity compensation framework: no qualifying 2025 event is recorded. The cited framework is an administrative capacity-price mechanism, not a competitive capacity auction.
How is energy traded, priced and settled in Guangdong electricity spot market?
Guangdong electricity spot market: Provincial organized wholesale market with medium- and long-term trading and a continuously operating spot market; also represented in the non-additive Southern Regional market layer.
Nearby markets
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