According to the “Quarterly Grid Connect Report for 2026” released by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on July 20th, in the fiscal year 2026, the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) added a total of 9.1 GW of new grid-connected power generation facilities and energy storage systems. This figure is more than twice that of the fiscal year 2025.
Among the 34 energy projects that reached full capacity output in the fiscal year 2026, there were 12.9 GWh of energy storage systems and 9.1 GW of power generation facilities. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) pointed out that battery energy storage projects dominated the technical portfolio.
If the capacity still in the commissioning stage is included, the cumulative newly connected power generation facilities and energy storage systems in the fiscal year 2026 (ending on June 30) reached 10.5 GW.
Margarida Pimentel, the manager of the grid connection business group of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), stated that this achievement fully demonstrated the efficient coordination throughout the entire process from the early development of the project to grid connection. She pointed out: “The newly connected power generation facilities and energy storage systems that reached full capacity output in the previous fiscal year reached a record 9.1 GW, more than twice that of the result in the fiscal year 2025.”
Pimentel also emphasized that wind power investment in the fiscal year 2026 also reached a new high – the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) received 12 wind power project applications throughout the year, with a total installed capacity of 5.2 GW, the highest number of wind power project applications in any single year in history.
In the second quarter of 2026 (ending in June this year), 14 projects achieved full capacity output, totaling 3.9 GW, including 2.7 GW of battery energy storage systems, 0.5 GW of solar + energy storage projects, 0.4 GW of solar power plants, and 0.2 GW of wind power plants. During the same period, there were 32 project applications approved, with a total installed capacity of 6.9 GW, also setting a quarterly record, covering 3.6 GW of battery energy storage systems, 1.8 GW of solar + energy storage projects, 1.3 GW of wind power plants, and 0.2 GW of solar power plants.
Looking at the fiscal year 2026 as a whole, the project registration volume and application approval volume were 7.4 GW and 14.2 GW respectively. Although they slightly decreased compared to the fiscal year 2025, the planned grid connection project scale in 2026 continued to expand, increasing from 53 GW to 75.4 GW, an increase of 42%. Among them, the capacity of projects in the application stage was more than double that of 2025, and the capacity in the implementation stage led by developers also increased by 30%.
Battery energy storage systems accounted for half of the 75 GW of planned grid-connected energy projects.
Among the 75 GW of planned grid-connected energy projects in the current Australian National Electricity Market (NEM), battery energy storage projects accounted for 52% of the total installed capacity, solar + energy storage projects accounted for 18%, and wind power plants accounted for 15%. The proportion of mixed deployment projects in the reserve projects has been continuously rising, reflecting that the market has clearly shifted to the commercialized “solar + energy storage” model. During the period of 2026 fiscal year, 2.4 GW of solar power generation projects started or completed the process of adding energy storage systems, indicating that developers increasingly regard energy storage systems as an integral part of solar power generation projects rather than a separate asset category.
According to previous reports by industry media, Australia became the third-largest utility-scale battery energy storage market in the world in 2026 – according to statistics from the Australian Clean Energy Commission, the financing scale of large-scale battery energy storage systems in the country reached 4.3 GW in 2025, second only to the United States and China.
The “2026 First Quarter Energy Dynamics Report” previously released by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) indicated that in the first quarter of 2026, battery energy storage systems transferred daytime electricity to the evening’s average discharge power of 359 MW, while in the same period of 2025, it was only 98 MW, with a year-on-year increase of more than twice.
In addition, it is worth noting that among the 33.2 GW of battery energy storage projects planned to be deployed in Australia, the proportion of projects equipped with grid-connected inverters has reached 74%. This high penetration rate not only reflects the commercial incentives of the system strength service contract, but also indicates that as coal-fired power plants gradually phase out, the demand for grid stability services in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) is becoming increasingly urgent.
The battery energy storage system is also the fastest-growing technology type in the entire grid integration process, and this competitive advantage further consolidates its dominant share in planned grid connection projects.
According to the “2026 Comprehensive System Planning” of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), by 2050, Australia needs to deploy 35GW of short-term and medium-term energy storage systems, as well as 5GW of long-term energy storage systems, to support the grid transformation dominated by wind and solar power generation. Based on the advancement speed shown in the 2026 fiscal year, the recently planned projects are expected to meet the requirements of the early stages of this goal. However, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) also pointed out in the report that during the developer-led implementation stage, the project duration has been extended from 14 months to 18 months, and one-third of the projects have remained in this stage for more than two years, becoming an increasingly prominent bottleneck.
Pimentel stated that design changes and equipment replacements are the main reasons for the delay in this stage. She explained: “Design changes and equipment replacements often require additional evaluations and rework, and activities such as project sales, financing delays, and commercial preparations are also factors causing delays.”
Currently, the reserve capacity in the application stage is 118% higher than that of a year ago, which means that a large number of projects waiting to be transferred to the construction and commissioning stages will continue to test the endurance of the delivery schedule in the next two to three years.