Australia enjoying “peak” battery additions as solar, wind generation jumps 12 pct over year

As Australia moves into the next phase of its shift to 82 per cent renewables by 2030 under a re-elected and (hopefully) re-energised Labor Albanese government, fresh data on new utility capacity added to the grid since the start of the year paints a telling picture: big battery development is peaking.

In the latest monthly updated from Rystad Energy, renewables analyst David Dixon includes a peek at what is being added to the grid in 2025 (January through to April) – and so far, he says, it has mostly been peaking generation.

Dixon says that in total, 2.7 GW (AC) of utility generation capacity (excluding rooftop PV) has been energised so far this year, with the majority (80%) associated with gas and battery projects.

The gas part is thanks to Snowy Hydro’s 660 MW Hunter Power Project at Kurri Kurri, which finally entered the market operator’s grid management system in March of this year, nearly two years after its original timeline and after an explosion in costs.

The controversial gas plant was first announced in 2021 by then federal energy minister Angus Taylor to support system reliability, and was originally intended to be built in time for the closure of the Liddell coal fired power station in April, 2023.

Gas aside, Dixon notes that battery output is starting to take “a meaningful share” of new peaking generation, despite a large amount of the operational battery capacity (2.2 GW) still proceeding through commissioning and more than 6 GW still under construction but yet to energise.

On renewable energy generation, Rystad’s data for April 2025 shows that large-scale wind and solar farms around Australia generated a total of 3,820 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable electricity for the month, a 12 per cent jump on the total amount generated a year earlier, in April 2024.

Energy generated by renewables – including solar, wind, hydro and biomass – reached a 39% share in the National Electricity Market in April, up from 36% in April 2024, Rystad syas, while on the WEM – the wholesale energy market in Western Australia – reached 41% renewables in April 2025 down from 43% last April.

Rystad’s Dixon says that at a state level, New South Wales was in top spot generating a total of 1,107 GWh – 614 GWh from utility solar and 493 GWh from wind.

The top-performing wind and solar generation assets, however, were in Western Australia, for wind, and Queensland for solar – two states whose regions happen to have remained dominated by Liberal Party blue in maps illustrating the result of the Labor (red) dominated weekend vote.

According to Rystad, the top wind asset for the month was APA Group’s 137 megawatt (MW) Badginagarra wind farm, with a capacity factor (CF) of 49.6%. The Badgingarra wind farm, around 200km north of Perth came online in 2018.

In second place for wind farm performance in April is the Ratch Australia/Alinta Energy Yandin wind farm (CF 45.4%), a 214MW wind farm located near the Wheatbelt town of Dandaragan, around 175km to the north of Perth.

Another five WA wind farms make up the top eight best-performing assets for April, with just one from Queensland – the 43.2 MW wind component of the Kennedy Energy Park near Hughenden in north Queensland, jointly owned by Windlab and Eurus Energy Holdings – taking third place with a capacity factor of 45.3%.

For large-scale solar, Dixon says the top-five best performing assets for the month were all in Queensland, led by X-Elio’s 200 MW Blue Grass solar farm in the state’s Western Downs region, with a capacity factor of 31.2% (AC).

Second and third place go to Metka’s 110 MW Moura solar farm in the Banana Shire (30.3% AC CF) and the 162MW AC Columboola solar farm in Western Downs (28.9% AC CF).

If you wish to support independent media, and accurate information, please consider making a one off donation or becoming a regular supporter of Renew Economy. Your support is invaluable.