The week in review
Welcome to 2026 and welcome back to ENB's ongoing coverage of the APAC region's energy sector.
I did start by writing "a warm welcome" but in the present circumstances, that choice of words seems a little uncharitable to say the least.
The south-east corner of Australia is in the midst of a heatwave the likes of which the country hasn't endured for several years. The emergency services are already fighting bush fires on a number of fronts and our thoughts are with them and homeowners and businesses.
But what's been noted with regards to this temperature spike is how the nation's main energy grid has coped. And it's undoubtedly good news.
A couple of days ago underlying power demand in the National Electricity Market (NEM) reached a new high at around 4pm at more than 38.9GW, driven largely by the use of air-conditioning in homes and offices.
Previously such an event would have stretched the grid to its limits, but happily the grid coped well.
According to Josh Stabler, the MD of advisory firm Energy Edge, the reason for the new found resilience is rooftop solar panels, which have flooded the grid over the past decade and now crown more than four million homes. At its peak on Wednesday, rooftop solar produced around 12GW of power, accounting for almost 30% of the grid's electricity demand which did a lot of the heavy lifting to help the big generators, including coal plants. At that point, the share of demand met by all renewable sources hit 67%.
"When I started 25 years ago, every single person was scared to death about what would happen at the middle of the hottest day, when there was stress on power lines, big excess demand and really high prices between midday and 4pm," he told the AFR.
"But now we have so much solar, it's not even a thing you worry about."
However, while solar panels help when the sun's shining there's still the problem of evening demand when temperatures remain high but solar generation dwindles.
By the middle of Wednesday evening the bulk of power generation was being met by coal and gas – at prices up to $1400/MWh.
And it's here that the need for batteries becomes apparent. And in fact emphasises the central part storage will play in the energy transition.
With this in mind, I've noticed a few battery-related developments already taking centre stage in the new year.
Firstly, is the amount of grid-scale battery and energy storage systems (BESS) being developed.
Since the start of the new year, public consultations on no less than eight BESS projects have been opened by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
If all pass approvals and are constructed according to plan AGL's Muswellbrook BESS, Avenis Energy's Sunshine Estate BESS, TagEnergy Australia's Kincraig BESS, Redhill Energy's Rutherglen BESS, Tonic Group's Binningup solar farm and BESS, Alinta's Marri wind farm and BESS, Neoen's Yathroo Wind Farm and BESS and Horizon's BESS (as part of their Broome Future Energy System) will deliver a combined capacity of about 13GWh to the nation's grids.
Then, in another demonstration of the growing impetus of battery and storage, comes the news that the private equity firm Adamantem Capital is to acquire a majority stake (70%) in Solar Battery Group, one of Australia's largest installers.
Solar Battery has been selling home storage to households for more than a decade but with the Albanese government's $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries scheme, which incentivised properties with solar panels to add battery systems with discounts of around 30%, the company has boomed.
And so it's with indicators such as these (and many others besides), that ENB decided to do a deep dive into the role of battery and storage in the Australian energy transition.
It's become very clear that we cannot hope to shift away from fossil fuels if we do not have adequate renewable generation, but also importantly storage capacity.
So, in our forthcoming report - entitled "Future of Energy: the role of batteries and storage in Australia's energy transition" – we've examined the storage capacity in the pipeline and the rate of battery adoption, including a state-by-state outlook, supported by exclusive survey data and analysis of operating, construction and planned projects nationwide.
I look forward to soon bringing you more information on this analysis-filled report. If you'd like to learn more and ensure you receive a copy, please contact us.
Best wishes for the coming year and thank you for your ongoing engagement with ENB.
Yours,
Russell Yeo
Editor
Energy News Bulletin
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