May 6, 2025 /eszoneo/ —
Australia’s battery energy storage market is experiencing rapid growth, driven by policy momentum, rising investor confidence, and the urgent need to replace ageing coal plants. As of March 2025, AEMO reported an 86% year-on-year increase in standalone BESS capacity in the National Electricity Market (NEM), with approvals and registrations accelerating across all regions. This expansion reflects broader trends in project scale-up and technology adoption, while the upcoming federal election may play a pivotal role in shaping the country’s clean energy transition.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has revealed that, as of March 2025, the pipeline of new standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the National Electricity Market (NEM) has increased by 86% year-on-year (YoY).
The organisation’s latest Connections Scorecard for March 2025 details that standalone batteries have increased from 11GW to 20.5GW YoY, while hybrid solar and battery projects have also increased from 4.5GW to 5.6GW.
“Recent registrations and application approvals show a rapid increase in battery technology progressing through the pipeline across all regions,” AEMO’s scorecard read.
As revealed in the image above, utility-scale solar PV generation and BESS are leading the applications for the financial year to date. However, despite seeing a rise in announced solar-plus-storage projects in Australia in recent months, these are still minimal and have not been shared across most states, focusing more on New South Wales and Victoria.
Specifically, 4.7GW of batteries have had their applications approved, whilst solar-plus-storage has stood at 800MW.
March 2025 also saw the progression of battery storage systems coming online. French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen brought its 238.5MW/477MWh 2-hour duration Blyth BESS in South Australia to full output.
As of March 2025, AEMO reported that the pipeline of new generation and energy storage capacity has surpassed 51GW, reflecting a 37% year-over-year increase. In the NEM states, this capacity is distributed as 36% in New South Wales, 31% in Queensland, 23% in Victoria, 10% in South Australia, and 0.25% in Tasmania.
Margarida Pimentel, manager of AEMO’s onboarding and connections group, stated that the pipeline of new projects required to replace ageing power stations and meet future demand is the largest ever recorded.
“So far this financial year, 42 project applications have been approved (9.2GW), 28 projects (7.5GW) were registered, and 16 projects (2.5GW) reached their full MW output,” Pimentel said.
This will also be seen as a boost, considering the question marks being raised about Australia’s coal phase-out, a form of generation the country has been reliant on. Although AEMO has predicted that 2038 will be the full withdrawal date for coal power stations, research group Cornwall Insight told our sister site PV Tech that these could operate beyond this and well into the 2050s.
With momentum growing in the pipeline for energy storage and renewable energy generation projects, all eyes will now be fixed on the upcoming general election on 3 May.
The three-year parliamentary term time for the next government coincides with one of the most defining periods for the energy transition. For that reason, the next government will be a conduit to whether Australia will grasp the opportunity and become a “renewable energy superpower”, a term often used by current prime minister Anthony Albanese to make his stance clear on the energy transition.
Albanese recently showed his support for energy storage ahead of the election, declaring on LinkedIn that the Labor Party supports “clean, affordable energy to cut power bills now” after visiting the 2,000MWh Collie Battery in Western Australia, which recently saw its last battery pack installed.
The same cannot be said for his opponent Peter Dutton, leading the Liberal Party in the Liberal-National Coalition. Climate sceptic Dutton, who is likely to take a stance on energy policy similar to that of US President Donald Trump and attempt to reduce the Australian public’s energy bills by focusing more on oil and gas, coal-fired power, and nuclear reactors. In the process, he would controversially seek to lift a ban on nuclear power that has been in place since 1983 via the Nuclear Activities (Prohibitions) Act.
Transitioning from a supportive government of renewables to one prioritising fossil fuels could disrupt the country’s energy transition and jeopardise Australia’s opportunity to capitalise on the economic benefits, Energy-Storage.news has heard.
SOURCE: Energy-Storage.News
