Volume of batteries in Australian grid pipeline doubles, year on year

Data from federal body the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) shows the wave of renewable energy projects moving through the connections pipeline for the National Electricity Market (NEM) grid continued to grow in 2024 with 49.6 GW of capacity in progress at the end of the year, up from 36.4 GW at the end of 2023.

Margarida Pimentel, manager of AEMO’s onboarding and connections group, said the market operator’s latest Connections Scorecard for the NEM highlighted the surge of solar, wind, and battery projects navigating the grid connection process. “Given the NEM’s total generation and storage capacity of 66 GW, nearly 50 GW of new projects marks a significant pipeline of future energy supply,” she said.

The scorecard shows around 36% of that capacity was in New South Wales (NSW), 32% in Queensland, 21% in Victoria, and 10% in South Australia.

“The scorecard data also reveals that 18.1 GW out of the 49.6 GW within the connections pipeline are battery projects, representing a 97% increase on the 9.2 GW in progress during the same time last year,” said Pimentel.

AEMO’s latest data also highlights increasing momentum in project registrations, with 1.7 GW registered in the final quarter of the year and 5.2 GW in the second half of 2024.

“Project registrations in the last six months are more than double those in the previous 12 months,” said Pimentel. “This surge reflects the wave of application approvals in 2023.”

Some 11 projects were registered during the final quarter of 2024, with solar accounting for 831 MW of generation capacity, followed by wind (with 440 MW), and 350 MW of battery projects. Some 52% of that capacity was registered in NSW.

“These registered projects are built, connected to the grid, and can now move through to the final commissioning phase,” said Pimentel.

The momentum of new connection applications continued to build in the final quarter of the year, with 16 new connection applications received, adding 3.6 GW to the pipeline of projects. More than 50% of that capacity is BESS projects planned for Queensland.

Some 20 projects, representing a combined 4.9 GW and including 687 MW of solar and 3,575 MW of battery sites, received application approval during the three months to December.

Four projects, with a combined 600 MW capacity, commenced operating at full output during the quarter. Among those projects were the 200 MW/400 MWh Rangebank BESS and the 76 MW Girgarre Solar Farm, both in Victoria, and the 129 MW Tailem Bend 2 solar-plus-storage project, in South Australia.

From pv magazine Australia.