Q1 2026 Australia Workshops: Five key takeaways for BESS
Battery energy storage has reached mainstream status in the NEM, with 5 GW and 11 GWh of operational capacity at the end of 2025. This step-change, up from 2 GW a year prior, is already driving changes in market pricing dynamics. And importantly, this is just the start. A further 10 GW of BESS is expected online in the next two years.
On 28th February and 4th March, we held workshops to dive into investment trends and the latest market dynamics, and to explore insights from the latest update to our long-term NEM forecast.
Modo Energy subscribers can find the full presentation to interact with at the end of the article.
We summarise five key takeaways from the workshops below.
1. Big batteries are shifting beyond four hours
- In early February, the most recent LTESA tender results were announced, with six batteries, all eight hours or greater, winning contracts.
- These add to a battery pipeline that is rapidly shifting towards four hours and above.
- Of the largest battery projects in the pipeline - one GWh or above in capacity - all but three are above 3.8 hours.
- With the announced capacity expansion of the second phase of Eraring Big Battery, there are now eight giga-scale batteries with 5.8 hours or longer in development.
