Octopus Energy has announced a major joint venture with China’s PCG Power, marking a significant expansion into the world’s largest clean energy market and a bold step in exporting British energy technology overseas.
The deal, unveiled during the Prime Minister’s official visit to China, will see the UK energy group partner with one of China’s fastest-growing renewable investors to trade green electricity across the country’s rapidly expanding power markets.
The new venture, called Bitong Energy, will combine PCG Power’s deep experience in China’s commercial and industrial renewables sector with Octopus Energy’s proprietary software for optimising and trading renewable power. The aim is to operate at the heart of China’s spot electricity markets, where energy is bought and sold in real time to balance supply and demand more efficiently.
China already leads the world in renewable deployment, and electricity demand is forecast to rise by around a third over the next five years. At the same time, regulatory reforms are accelerating the shift to market-based trading, with government mandates requiring at least 10% of power to be traded on spot markets by the end of this year.
Against that backdrop, Bitong Energy is targeting scale. By 2030, the joint venture aims to trade up to 140 terawatt hours of renewable electricity annually – roughly equivalent to the UK’s current green power output. Octopus says the business could generate around £50m a year in profits, with half returning to the UK, and reach a valuation of more than £500m within five years.
Operations will launch in Guangdong, China’s most advanced spot power market, before expanding nationwide as further regions open to real-time trading. Alongside energy trading, Octopus will deploy its optimisation software to improve the performance and value of China’s fast-growing fleets of batteries, wind and solar assets.
Greg Jackson, founder and chief executive of Octopus Energy, said the partnership reflects a shift in where the greatest opportunities now lie in the energy transition.
“China’s investment at scale has made solar, wind and batteries dramatically cheaper,” he said. “The opportunity for Britain is in building the systems that use these technologies to cut the cost of electricity. This partnership is about exporting that expertise – growing both our economies while accelerating the move to cheaper, cleaner and more secure power.”
For PCG Power, the deal strengthens its position as China’s power markets become more complex and competitive. Li Wenxuan, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said combining Octopus’s algorithmic trading capabilities with PCG’s local market knowledge would unlock significant value for commercial and industrial customers.
“This partnership reflects our shared commitment to smarter, more efficient energy systems,” he said. “Together, we aim to support China’s green transformation while addressing the challenge of balancing affordability, security and sustainability.”
The joint venture builds on Octopus Energy’s growing international footprint and its strategy of exporting British clean-energy software rather than physical infrastructure. The company has already struck overseas software partnerships designed to lower costs for consumers and improve grid flexibility, and last year launched an electric vehicle collaboration with Chinese manufacturer BYD to turn EVs into mobile energy storage.
As governments around the world push to decarbonise power systems while keeping bills down, Octopus’s move into China signals how UK firms are positioning themselves not just as users of clean technology, but as exporters of the tools that make it work at scale.
