The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Energy Administration have jointly issued a notice regarding the competitive bidding for mechanism-based electricity prices for new energy incremental projects in 2027, officially kicking off the process for the year. Under the notice, the declared price range for both wind and solar power is set uniformly at RMB 0.15 to 0.36 per kilowatt-hour, inclusive of tax, with a settlement period of 12 years.
The bidding is open to wind and solar projects that achieve full-capacity grid connection and commence commercial operation between June 1, 2025, and December 31, 2027, and have not previously been included under any mechanism-based pricing arrangement. This includes distributed wind projects and household rooftop solar installations. Notably, new energy projects designed for local consumption, as well as general and large-scale commercial and industrial distributed solar, are excluded from this bidding round. The competition will be organized and settled separately for wind and solar categories.
In terms of pricing parameters, the upper limit for bids in both wind and solar is capped at RMB 0.36 per kilowatt-hour, while the lower limit is set at RMB 0.15 per kilowatt-hour, with declared prices required to retain three decimal places. The total approved electricity volume will be determined at 40% of the annual forecasted grid-connected electricity from all eligible incremental projects across the region; individual projects may apply for mechanism-linked electricity volumes not exceeding 80% of their total grid output, with declared ratios required to be integer multiples of 1%. The minimum declared sufficiency ratio for both wind and solar is set at 120%.
Mechanism-based electricity pricing represents a transitional institutional arrangement within the broader market-oriented reforms for new energy grid pricing. Electricity volumes brought under the mechanism are settled at the fixed competitive prices determined through the bidding process, while the remaining volumes participate fully in the spot electricity market and are settled at market prices. This design means that even for projects that successfully secure mechanism-linked volumes, at least 20% of their electricity output remains exposed to spot price fluctuations.
It should be clarified that the RMB 0.15 per kilowatt-hour figure represents the minimum price floor available for enterprises to declare, rather than an actual transaction price, with the final clearing outcome dependent on competition among bidders. Earlier competitive bidding rounds in Guangxi covering 2025 to 2026 saw 90 wind projects selected with a mechanism price of RMB 0.355 per kilowatt-hour, closely approaching the upper cap of RMB 0.36, while 7,467 solar projects were selected at RMB 0.31 per kilowatt-hour. The current 2027 bidding round maintains the same declared price range as the previous year, though the project scope has been adjusted to exclude commercial and industrial distributed solar installations.