Batteries lead in record quarter for new Australian projects

AEMO’s “National Electricity Market (NEM) Scorecard” for March 2025 has found the pipeline of new clean energy and energy storage projects planned to replace aging fossil-fuel power stations and meet future demand, was the largest to date.

New generation and storage projects in the final commissioning stage have jumped 5.5 GW year-on-year, up from 1.5 GW in the 2024 March quarter to 7 GW at the end of the March 2025 quarter.

AEMO Onboarding and Connections Group Manager Margarida Pimentel said the pipeline of new generation and storage capacity exceeded 51 GW, which is a 37% year-on-year increase, and a new record for projects working to connect to the NEM grid.

The most signficant increase is seen in standalone batteries, which jumped 9.5 GW, up from 11 GW in the March 2024 quarter, to 20.5 GW in 2025.

By comparison hybrid solar and battery projects grew modestly from 4.5 GW to 5.6 GW, wind projects from 7.5 GW to 8.7 GW, and grid-scale solar projects from 10.2 GW to 12.1 GW.

New South Wales lead the NEM states for new pipeline capacity at 36%, followed by 31% in Queensland, 23% in Victoria, 10% in South Australia, and 0.25% in Tasmania.

“So far, this financial year, 42 project applications have been approved (9.2 GW), 28 projects (7.5 GW) were registered, and 16 projects (2.5 GW) reached their full megawatt output,” Pimentel said.

Application approvals

For the March 2025 quarter, seven projects totalling 1.7 GW received application approvals, seven were registered (2.4 GW), and five reached full output: the Blyth Bess (200 MW), Gangarri Solar Farm (150 MW), Crookwell 3 Wind Farm (56 MW), Mokoan Solar Farm (46 MW), and Kingaroy Solar Farm (40 MW).

There are also an increasing number of applications for alterations to generating systems, including adding batteries, firmware updates, like-for-like replacements and plant alterations.

Of the 10 alterations in registration, seven are battery additions, making up an additional 480 MW of added storage capacity. Three of the six alterations in commissioning are battery additions, making up an additional 304 MW of storage capacity.

Project EnergyConnect

During the March quarter was the stage one release of Project EnergyConnect, a new transmission line connecting South Australia and New South Wales, with a spur into Victoria.

“With stage one of Project EnergyConnect built and tested, AEMO, ElectraNet and TransGrid have released 150 MW of electricity to flow between South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria, which will enable capacity for new generation in these areas,” Pimentel said.

From pv magazine Australia.