Summer brought plenty of discussion about electricity across Australia. As the season of peak demand, it has historically placed the grid under its greatest strain. Summer was once (as recently as 2019-20) the season of highest coal usage, but solar generation has nearly tripled in the last 6 years. Coal usage has fallen more quickly in summer than in other seasons, and is now lower than winter and autumn. This trend is strongest in Victoria, the next state expected to shut down a coal-fired power plant in 2027.

This summer continued the trend, with weaker coal generation than previous summers, and gas generation also remaining relatively low. This shift is particularly pronounced in Queensland, with renewable generation about 24% higher than last summer.

Records cascaded across the summer months. Every state recorded new monthly and instantaneous highs. The NEM and the WEM combined recorded an increase of over 9% in total generation across summer compared with the previous year.

In December, each state recorded its highest monthly solar generation on record. Plenty of instantaneous and daily records fell through the season, with an instantaneous record in SA catching our eye.

South Australia has seen the highest instantaneous solar generation broken on the 18th of December, 2025.

We see generation peak at 1:30PM, however similar results could have been available earlier, had the generation not been curtailed. Little utility-solar has entered SA recently, with the last project commencing in January 2024. While none have retired, generation has declined in recent summers. Some of this can be explained with year to year variation, though a considerable share reflects increased curtailment, with more utility solar spilled than used across Summer. For a deeper discussion of curtailment, visit Dan Lee’s article in Wattclarity.

New South Wales saw the highest battery discharge seen thus far across each of the summer months, now standing at 59 GWh in February, a record despite the shorter month. This is over five times the amount of energy discharged in February 2025. A key factor in NSW battery performance was the addition of Eraring. While Eraring has contributed to several records over recent months, the effect is now substantially greater with commissioning complete.

Further to this, battery discharge still has plenty of room to grow. Several of the largest batteries, such as Orana, Limondale, and Liddell continue to work through commissioning, and plenty more in construction.

While four-hour batteries are newcomers to the NEM, they have been operating in the WEM for some time, with Kwinana Stage 2 first recording generation in September 2024. The WEM also saw exceptionally strong battery generation across the summer. The WEM has been leading the way on battery deployment and was the first state to discharge over 100 GWh in a month, as it did in December, and again in January.

Queensland has broken monthly wind generation records in December, January and February, now standing at 509 GWh. This is highly unusual, with wind generation typically highest in Winter and Spring. However, Queensland’s largest wind farms, such as Macintyre, Clarke Creek and Wambo, are all progressing though the commissioning process. Queensland has historically had much less wind generation than the southern states, though as we have covered previously, the state seen considerable growth recently.

We have covered the low gas generation in Queensland, and more recently this has affected the more efficient closed cycle gas turbines rather than only the less efficient facilities. Queensland sees more stable gas generation both by time of day and by month of year when compared to other states in the NEM, and this summer we can see declining gas generation at all times of day when compared to the year prior.

The Reeves BESS began construction in January. At 250MW/1000MWh, the Alinta project is the largest committed battery in South Australia, surpassing the 960MWh Summerfield BESS expected to come online late this year. The facility is much larger than any other battery currently operating in the state, with the 400MWh Blyth battery currently the largest. The Reeves facility is expected to commence in 2028. South Australia has also seen a smaller battery, the Hallett BESS, begin construction. The facility is 50MW/245MWh, though there are plans to increase its size to 150MW.

Bennet's Creek, a 100MW/223MWh battery, has also reached financial close. The Victorian facility is owned by Flow Power, a newcomer to batteries with no storage projects currently operating. The facility is expected to begin operations in early 2028.

The 200MW/400MWh New England BESS first discharged in January. New England has the option to build considerably more at the site. There is already 400MW of solar located with the battery, however ACEN is anticipated to add a further 320MW of solar at the site and approval to add a 1,400MW/2,800MWh battery, though this is much more uncertain.

The Terang BESS has also commenced. The 100MW/200MWh facility in Victoria began construction in August 2024 and commenced on February the 5th. Terang is the first Victorian battery to commence in 2026, though with 8 more expected to commence in 2026, we can expect plenty more in the coming months.

The Winton North Solar Farm commenced construction on 4 February. While solar farms are increasingly paired with batteries in response to low wholesale prices during the day, the 100MW solar farm will be built without storage. It will join a number of other solar farms located in northern Victoria, just beside the Glenrowan West and Mokoan solar farms. The project is owned by European Energy and is expected to come online in 2027.

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See all records and the latest facilities updates at Open Electricity.

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