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RPS currently operates as annual matching using monthly time‑stamped instruments…

2026-08-04 · 13:45 UTC ·@pretentiouswhat ·1 min read

Brief

RPS market design currently uses annual matching with monthly time‑stamped instruments while hourly matching is being piloted in several Chinese provinces exporting batteries to the EU to comply with the EU Battery Regulation. Nodal settlement pilots apply only to generator pricing; buyers remain on provincial settlement and retailers likely bear congestion surplus risk. The author is advising on two China NGO projects and will publish findings when ready.

Why it matters

RPS currently operates as annual matching using monthly time‑stamped instruments; hourly matching is being piloted in a few Chinese provinces that export batteries to the EU to meet EU Battery Regulation green‑electricity requirements.

Key details

  • Nodal settlement is under development but, in pilots, is used for generator‑side price settlement only; power buyers still settle at provincial prices and retailers (or another party) likely absorb congestion surplus risk.
  • The author and their team are working on two China market‑design/regulatory advisory projects with NGOs—one on green hourly matching (they wrote a brief a couple months ago) and a separate nodal‑settlement project whose final paper will be posted when complete.
Source evidence

RPS is annual matching with monthly time-stamped instruments right now (although hourly matching is now piloting in a few provinces that export batteries to the EU, in anticipation of needing to meet the Battery Regulation requirements for green electricity).

BTW you may know there's a heated debate going on right now about green hourly matching (not just in China, but everywhere). We wrote about it for an NGO a couple months ago.

energytag.org/wp-content/upl…

Nodal settlement is also under development, but there's no intention to expose power buyers to it yet. In the provinces where it's piloting, it's used for generator-side price settlement, while buyers still settle at provincial prices and someone (probably the retailer) swallows the congestion surplus risk. We're working on a separate project with a separate NGO in China on this right now and I'll post the final paper here when it's done.

Funny how you happened to mention our two major ongoing China market design/regulatory advisory projects of the moment.