With the commencement in December of construction on two new utility-scale battery projects in Queensland and New South Wales, 2024 set new records for BESS project construction in the country. The two projects brought the total of new big batteries that have broken ground in 2024 to 4.9 GW/13 GWh.

The development is an encouraging one, with a combination of tenders and market dynamics like pronounced and increasing wholesale price volatility helping a host of projects right around the country achieve final investment decision. But it remains insufficient to avoid escalating curtailment rates.

“It just continues on the trend from 2023, which was widely stated as the year of the battery. Volatility in the market is still super high in Australia,” Dixon said. “And in all honesty, we’re not going to see reprieve of that until a lot of the battery capacity comes online.”