In January 2025, average battery energy storage revenues in the Australian NEM decreased to $105k/MW/year. However, extreme price events in Queensland meant that batteries there significantly outperformed the rest of the NEM. Queensland batteries earned five times more revenue than batteries in other regions. In contrast, New South Wales battery revenues decreased by 77%.
This article looks at what contributed to changes in battery earnings in January.
Executive Summary
- Average NEM-wide battery revenues fell 7% in January 2025 to $105k/MW/year, driven by lower FCAS prices and fewer extreme price events.
- Queensland was the clear outperformer, with battery revenues jumping 30% to $277k/MW/year — over 5x the rest-of-NEM average.
- A single day, 22 January, accounted for 57% of Queensland’s battery revenue due to record demand and extreme evening prices.
- Revenue variation across regions was shaped by the frequency of price spikes and how effectively batteries dispatched during them.
In this article, we refer to the Modo Energy NEM battery index, which represents the average revenues (inclusive of marginal loss factors) earned by batteries within the NEM across a period of time. The average is weighted and normalised by a battery’s rated power. All currency figures quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).
The index and this article cover merchant revenues, defined as revenues from the NEM’s publicly traded wholesale energy and FCAS markets. Batteries may have other revenue sources, such as government contracts and power purchasing agreements.
Average battery revenues in the NEM decreased by 7% from December
Grid-scale battery revenues averaged $105k/MW/year in January 2025, a 7% decrease from the figure in December 2024. This is also 31% lower than the figure in the same month in 2024 and 29% below the 2024 annual average of $149k/MW/year.