The first national-level vocational skill recognition and evaluation exam for electricity traders was held at the assessment center of State Power Investment Co's Jiangsu subsidiary early this month, with 16 personnel from the province successfully awarded certificates.

They became the first batch of electricity traders in the country to be registered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Department of Human Resources and Social Security.

In July 2022, the ministry listed electricity traders as a new occupation in the Occupational Classification Code of the country. According to the standards, electricity trader refers to personnel engaged in electricity market transactions, operations, analysis, platform operations and maintenance services.

They should understand the basic operating rules of the electric power system and the complex rules of electricity transaction, involving multiple disciplines such as environmental protection, law and finance.

"The electricity market differs from other general markets in that electricity is balanced in real-time and cannot be stored on a large scale. Electricity forms and trading methods differ from other commodity market rules. It is similar to the scene of securities trading," said Liu Huibo, chairman and branch secretary of Jiangsu Electric Power Trading Center.

With the steady progress of China's electricity market reform, two regional trading institutions, Beijing Electric Power Trading Center and Guangzhou Electric Power Trading Center, with the establishment of 33 provincial and regional trading institutions.

The transaction volume of the electricity market has been increasing. Data shows that the transaction volume of electricity in the national electricity market has increased from 1.1 trillion kilowatt hours in 2016 to 5.67 trillion kilowatt hours in 2023, a growth of 4.2 times.

Corresponding to the rapid expansion of the electricity trading market, there is a gap in the reserve of electricity traders. The relevant demand in Jiangsu province alone exceeds 60,000 people, and the contradiction between supply and demand of talent is prominent, Liu added.

As a new profession, most of the participants in this pioneering exam are professionals from related industries, as well as some people interested in power trading, said Jiang Hongwei, deputy director of the Vocational Skills Appraisal Center of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security.

Cao Bingtai, an official of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, said that in the future, with the establishment of a unified national electricity market system, there will be an increasing demand for electricity traders in the market.

"We will also take this evaluation exam as an opportunity to accelerate the establishing a government-enterprise collaborative electricity talent skills certification and training system in Jiangsu, further alleviating the shortage of such talents," he said.