As China accelerates the deployment of wind and solar at unprecedented scale, the challenge is shifting from building clean power to ensuring the system can flex to accommodate it. This IEA report explores how China’s power system must evolve to manage rising variability and enable a reliable, low-carbon grid through 2030.
The report examines how flexibility requirements will develop during the 2026–2030 period, highlighting short-term solutions such as improved dispatch, demand-side response, storage, and market reforms. It also presents a market-based policy toolkit to support more efficient and responsive power systems, aligned with China’s goals of peaking emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.