The output of battery storage reached a new milestone over the weekend, breaking through the 2 GW barrier for the first time as the growing fleet of battery projects sought to cash in on elevated prices in the evening peak.
According to data providers GPG NEMLog, the output of big batteries on the National Electricity Market, Australia’s main grid, hit a new peak of 2,045 MW at 5.55pm on Sunday. That beat the previous record of 1984 MW set just over a week earlier, again in the evening peak.
The rapid growth in battery output comes as a host of big new projects work through their commissioning process and reach full output, including the Waratah super battery and the Capital battery in NSW, the Western Downs and Greenbank batteries in Queensland, the Rangebank and Latrobe batteries in Victoria, and the Blyth battery in South Australia.
Battery storage has been the strongest part of the energy transition in Australia, and just two years ago – in July, 2023 – the maximum total battery discharge into the main grid stood at just 488 MW.
Wind power is also posting new milestones across the grid, as we reported last week. The latest occurred at 2.20am on Monday morning, when South Australia reached a new record output of 2,202.5 MW, beating the previous record set in June by more than 40 MW.
The wind output record in South Australia had been largely unchanged for two years at 2,102 MW.
But the start of operations at the new, but not yet fully complete Goyder South wind farm, which will be the biggest in the state at 412.5 MW has added to capacity, and the opening of the first stage of the Project EnergyConnect transmission link to NSW has allowed more excess power to be exported, rather than curtailed.
At the time the new output record was set on Monday morning, wind was contributing more than 125 per cent of local demand, and more than 600 MW of excess capacity was being exported to other states, while big batteries were also recharging.
See also: The two subsidy-free wind farms that are returning millions of dollars to consumers
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