The Guangdong Electricity Trading Center has released the “2026 Guangdong Electricity Market Half-Year Report,” providing a comprehensive overview of the province’s electricity market performance and industry trends in the first half of the year.
The report shows that electricity demand in Guangdong continued its recovery trajectory, with total social electricity consumption reaching 471.48 billion kWh from January to June, an 8.8% year-on-year increase. The peak system load climbed to 174 million kW, up 13.7% year-on-year.
The overall electricity market transaction scale reached 320.45 billion kWh, matching the 8.8% growth rate. Direct market transactions accounted for 241.3 billion kWh, representing a significant 16.2% year-on-year increase. By the end of June, the total number of registered market entities reached 141,725, up 23.1% year-on-year, with 7,667 new entities added within the year. The industry maintains a diverse and competitive market structure, with the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) values for power generation and electricity consumption sides averaging 1,145 and 381 respectively.
Energy storage emerges as the fastest-growing segment in the power mix. By the end of June, Guangdong’s grid-connected energy storage and pumped hydro capacity reached 15.241 million kW, surging 45.4% year-on-year — the highest growth rate among all power sources and accounting for 5.5% of the province’s total installed capacity. At the market entity level, 13 new independent energy storage operators emerged in the first half of the year, bringing the total to 28, with 25 already participating in the electricity energy market.
However, the report noted that the energy storage market remains in its early development stage, characterized by “high price spreads but small total volume.” During the first half, independent energy storage long-term transaction volume was only 190 million kWh, with limited revenue from day-ahead market charge-discharge price spreads.
Retail electricity companies face widespread profitability pressure, with nearly 60% falling into losses. Among the 500 retail companies participating in retail transactions, 298 accumulated losses, resulting in a loss rate of 59.6%. The industry-wide average profit per kWh was a mere 0.0039 RMB.
The report reveals significant divergence among retail companies: 32 power-generation-affiliated retail companies earned approximately 0.0066 RMB per kWh, while the 456 independent retailers — representing over 90% of the total — earned only 0.0002 RMB per kWh.
During the same period, spot market prices in Guangdong experienced significant volatility, with the day-ahead daily average price ranging from 0.0907 to 0.6779 RMB/kWh, and the real-time daily peak reaching as high as 0.9785 RMB/kWh. Industry analysis indicates that the core reason for the widespread losses in the retail electricity sector is the inverse spread between wholesale and retail prices.
Source: China Energy News Network | September 18, 2026
Source:China Energy News Network