​Q3 2026 delivered 830 MW and 1,410 MWh of new BESS capacity in Australia's NEM. Four new projects reached commercial operation, and Waratah Super Battery completed its final 150 MW phase. That is 58% less new capacity than Q2, but still the third-largest quarter on record. The NEM's live fleet now stands at 8.5 GW and 19.1 GWh across 55 grid-scale assets.

​This article updates our tracking of battery energy storage deployment in the NEM. It covers newly commissioned assets, the commissioning queue, state-by-state capacity, and our forecast to the end of 2029.

Subscribers can download our BESS pipeline at the end of this article. You can also ask Ko for details on any of the projects included.

Find last quarter's report here.

​Key takeaways

• Q3 2026 added 830 MW and 1,410 MWh, bringing the NEM's live BESS fleet to 8.5 GW and 19.1 GWh.
• Every new project was a two-hour system, so average fleet duration declined from 2.3 to 2.2 hours, despite the pipeline shifting to longer duration.
• Only 500 MW of the 1,062 MW expected this quarter arrived, while 330 MW of capacity delivered before expected.
• Waratah Super Battery reached its full 850 MW in September. The final 150 MW delivered ahead of the end-2026 target set following its transformer failure in 2025.
• Victoria built the most in the quarter, with Terang and Mortlake’s 400 MW pushing the state past 2 GW.

​

​What BESS projects came online in Q3 2026?

Four new projects reached commercial operation: two in Victoria, one in New South Wales and one in Queensland. Waratah Super Battery's final phase added 150 MW in NSW.

The additions were smaller and shorter than Q2's 2 GW delivery. No new project exceeded 300 MW, and all four were two-hour systems. As a result, average fleet duration fell from 2.3 to 2.2 hours, reversing the four-hour direction Q2 took.

However, this is likely to be the last quarter of only two-hour systems. 4-hour systems make up 31% of the 1.8 GW of commissioning assets due in Q4, and 59% of the 9.1 GW confirmed or under construction assets.