Since 2022, NEM has seen a sharp increase in new utility-scale battery capacity, now totaling around 2 GW—more than half of which was added in just the past 18 months.
Almost all operational batteries in the NEM have durations of two hours or less, giving them a theoretical discharge window of up to two hours when fully charged. However, we’re now seeing a subtle but important shift toward longer durations, with more projects aiming for two hours and beyond.
Right now, the average duration in the NEM sits just above 1.5 hours, but if all committed and anticipated projects materialise (as listed by AEMO), that figure is expected to reach 2.3 hours by the end of 2027.
Several 4-hour systems drive this increase. These projects signal a growing appetite for deeper energy shifting—beyond merely capturing rare price spikes and FCAS revenues, to managing multiple high-price intervals and capitalising on daily price spreads, all while navigating offtake agreements.
Capturing these opportunities in the energy market is, of course, anything but straightforward. In future analyses, we’ll take a closer look at how battery operators are currently capturing these opportunities in practice.
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