Overview
- AEMO reports Australia’s installed battery capacity has doubled in the past year, reshaping daily power flows and market prices.
- Grid-scale batteries set wholesale prices nearly one-third of the time in the March quarter, cutting reliance on gas and hydro at the evening peak.
- Wholesale spot power averaged $73 per megawatt-hour in Q1 2026, about 12% lower than a year earlier as storage shifted cheap solar into the peak.
- Batteries moved about three times more daytime energy into evenings than in early 2025, and renewables supplied 46.5% of east-coast generation.
- Experts see stronger energy security yet warn short-duration batteries still need fossil backup during multi-day lulls, with more than 350,000 home systems now installed.