The amount of energy stored in grid batteries across Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) has reached a new record of 20.17 GWh, roughly three times the level of a year ago, as utility-scale solar output also hit a new high. The figures come from GPE NEMLog data shared by analyst Geoff Eldridge of Global Power Energy and reported by RenewEconomy on 10 November.
The new battery record was set at 4:15 pm on Friday. The previous high of 6.66 GWh was set on 5 November 2025, which means stored energy has risen by 203% in about 12 months.
New South Wales leads the growth
New South Wales set its own record of 8.36 GWh of energy stored in batteries, up 188% from the previous high of 2.9 GWh on 8 October 2025.
On the same day, instantaneous utility-scale solar availability across the NEM reached a record 10,561 MW. The previous peak was 9,410 MW, set on 17 October 2025, so this record rose by 12%.
The pattern is clear: large batteries are charging from the midday surge in solar output and holding that energy for the evening, when demand rises and the sun goes down.
Curtailment still high
Despite the growth in storage, a large amount of renewable output was still wasted. On the same day, 41.36 GWh of renewable generation was curtailed across the NEM, made up of 26.67 GWh of solar and 14.69 GWh of wind. In New South Wales alone, 15.68 GWh was curtailed, almost all of it solar.
"Substantial renewable generation continues to be curtailed, including during positive-price intervals," Eldridge wrote. He said that battery charging at utility and consumer level, together with other flexible demand, can help absorb available generation.
"The question is increasingly not just how much generation and storage capability we have," he added.
RenewEconomy noted that transmission limits, local dispatch conditions and the location of storage still prevent much of the available renewable output from reaching the market, even as batteries absorb more midday solar.
Why the battery numbers matter
A tripling of stored energy in one year shows how quickly grid-scale batteries are being connected in Australia. Storage shifts midday solar into the evening peak and helps keep solar output valuable after sunset.
The fact that curtailment remains high, even during periods of positive prices, shows that storage alone does not solve the problem. Batteries in the wrong place, or behind congested lines, cannot absorb all the solar available on the busiest days.
What it means for Asia-Pacific developers
Australia is showing other markets in the region what a high-solar grid looks like: midday surpluses, rising curtailment and fast growth in storage. For developers, co-locating batteries with solar plants, or placing them close to congested parts of the network, is becoming essential to protect revenue. Markets such as Japan, India and South-East Asia, where solar shares are rising quickly, are likely to face the same questions about where storage and transmission are built.
Source: RenewEconomy (GPE NEMLog data)
