A high-level socialist market economic system serves as an important guarantee for the Chinese path to modernization, and the construction of a national unified electricity market is one of the main tasks of economic system reform proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, as well as a key condition for supporting high-quality economic development.
The No. 9 document issued by the Central Committee in 2015 put forward programmatic opinions for a new round of electricity system reform in China. Since then, the construction of the electricity market has advanced rapidly, achieving remarkable results in many aspects such as the supervision and pricing mechanism reform of transmission and distribution costs, the development of medium- and long-term transactions within provinces and across provinces and regions, and the trial operation and continuous operation of spot market settlement. On February 9, 2025, the newly issued Document 发改价格〔2025〕136 further clarified the relevant requirements for new energy projects to enter the electricity market, aiming to promote the full market formation of on-grid electricity prices for new energy and establish and improve institutional mechanisms to support the high-quality development of new energy. Therefore, it is urgent to continuously improve the electricity market mechanism, build a national unified electricity market system that supports the market entry of multiple types of entities such as new energy, and support the optimal allocation of electricity resources across time and space.
The ultimate goal of establishing a market is to give play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation. To achieve the goal of constructing a national unified electricity market, on the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the research and development of technologies such as market optimization decision-making, clearing calculation, and technical support; on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen top-level design, promote the coordination between short-term and long-term, local and overall, and plan and market, break the institutional mechanisms that affect the large-scale optimal allocation of resources and the formation of correct price signals, and promote the realization of multiple objectives such as energy system safety, economy, and low carbon.
In order to promote the latest research progress in this field and facilitate technical exchanges between the academic and industrial circles, the Editorial Department of Electric Power specially invites Professor Jing Zhaoxia from South China University of Technology, Professor Yang Zhifang from Chongqing University, Deputy Director Liu Xue of the Institute of Electricity Market and Carbon Market of Tsinghua University's Department of Electrical Engineering/Sichuan Institute of Tsinghua University, and Senior Engineer Fan Menghua from State Grid Energy Research Institute Co., Ltd. to serve as special editors to organize the column of "Key Technologies and Mechanisms for Promoting the Construction of a National Unified Electricity Market". Experts, scholars, and researchers in this field are welcome to actively contribute to promote the continuous in-depth research and progress of related fields.
Contribution Directions (including but not limited to)
1. Architecture and construction path of the national unified electricity market
2. Modeling, clearing, and efficient decision-making technologies for ultra-large-scale electricity markets
3. Electricity market mechanisms and supporting technologies for large-scale optimal allocation of resources
4. Simulation, evaluation, and continuous improvement methods for continuous settlement operation of electricity markets
5. Market mechanisms and supporting policies for sustainable development of energy systems under the full market access of new energy
6. Electricity market price formation mechanisms considering multi-agent participation and incentive compatibility
7. International experience in electricity market design supporting high-proportion renewable energy participation
8. Summary of electricity market operation practices and induction of problems
Column Paper Publication Plan
Manuscript Submission Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Publication Schedule: Scheduled for the second half of 2025, to be published sequentially as a special column.
Manuscripts submitted to this column will enjoy the green-channel review privilege of the journal. Upon acceptance, an acceptance notice will be issued promptly, with priority given to online first publication.
Submission Requirements
1. Requirements for paper writing: The paper should be approximately 6,000 words, typeset in Word. Please refer to the Electric Power paper template (the latest version can be downloaded from the official website of Electric Power); English translations of the title, authors, affiliation, abstract, keywords, and references should be provided.
2. The research should focus on the hot and difficult issues in related fields, and fully reflect the core innovative achievements of the above professional directions.
3. In principle, the paper should be supported by a fund project, and the project name and number should be provided in a standardized manner.
4. The submitted paper should not have been published in public media.
Submission Methods
Please visit the Electric Power website: www.electricpower.com.cn, register for an author account and password, and submit your manuscript online. Please select or indicate the column "Key Technologies and Mechanisms for Promoting the Construction of a National Unified Electricity Market".
Contact Information
Guest Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Jing Zhaoxia, South China University of Technology
Email: zxjing@scut.edu.cn
Guest Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Yang Zhifang, Chongqing University
Email: zfyang@cqu.edu.cn
Guest Editor-in-Chief: Assoc. Prof. Liu Xue, Institute of Electricity Market and Carbon Market, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University / Sichuan Institute of Tsinghua University
Email: liuxue23@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn
Guest Editor-in-Chief: Sr. Engineer Fan Menghua, State Grid Energy Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Email: fanmenghua@sgeri.sgcc.com.cn
Editorial Department of Electric Power
Li Bo Tel: 010-66603808 Email: libo@sgeri.sgcc.com.cn
Wang Wenshi Tel: 010-66603806 Email: qqmavis121@163.com
Introduction to Guest Editors
Jing Zhaoxia, Professor and Vice Dean of the School of Electric Power at South China University of Technology, serves as an editorial board member of Electric Power. Her main research focuses on electricity markets, integrated energy system planning and dispatching. Currently, she is a member of the Electricity Market Special Committee and Youth & Education Work Committee of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, as well as a member and/or expert committee member of provincial market management committees in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hainan, and regional committees in Beijing, Guangzhou, etc. She founded the WeChat public account "Approaching Electricity Market", has published more than 200 papers, presided over over 50 scientific and educational projects, and won the "Outstanding Contribution Award" in the Guangdong Electric Power Science and Technology Award in 2023.
Yang Zhifang, Professor at Chongqing University and Youth Editorial Board Member of Electric Power, focuses on electricity markets and power system optimization. In the field of electricity markets, he has presided over multiple national, provincial-level, and enterprise projects, and published more than 40 journal papers. Currently, he serves as a member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Chongqing Electricity Market Management Committee.
Liu Xue, Associate Researcher and Deputy Director of the Institute of Electricity Market and Carbon Market at Sichuan Institute of Tsinghua University. He is mainly engaged in research in the fields of electricity market, mechanism design, and optimal operation of power systems, and has won multiple awards such as the China Electric Power Science and Technology Progress Award. As a key researcher, he has participated in numerous large-scale research projects and provided decision-making support for governments and enterprises, including involvement in the spot electricity market task force of the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, as well as the support work for the formulation of multiple documents. He has also participated in the mechanism design of electricity markets, clearing model algorithm research, and rule drafting for State Grid Corporation of China and China Southern Power Grid Corporation.
Fan Menghua, a professor-level senior engineer, currently serves as the Director of the International Development Research Office of the Enterprise Strategy Research Institute of State Grid Energy Research Institute Co., Ltd. He is mainly engaged in research on electricity markets, electricity system reform, and enterprise strategic planning. He has presided over and participated in more than 50 major scientific research projects, authored and participated in writing 17 monographs, obtained 2 authorized inventions and 8 software copyrights, and won more than 40 provincial (industry)-level awards and scientific research awards from the State Grid Corporation and above.
