NEMPulse · Insights · NSW1

New South Wales Battery Wrap — H1 2026

How New South Wales's grid-scale batteries performed in H1 2026: energy and FCAS market revenue, $/MW, $/MWh, top performers, and price events.

  • Energy + FCAS revenue: $31.24M
  • Batteries: 15
  • Rev / MW: $13k/MW
  • Rev / MWh: $4,342/MWh
  • Optimal capture: 42%
  • $/MW/day vs H2 2025: -28%

New South Wales (NSW1) batteries earned $31.24M in estimated gross energy and FCAS market revenue in H1 2026, from 15 grid-scale units tracked by NEMPulse. Figures cover the full period.

Normalised across 2,419 MW and 7,194 MWh of registered capacity, the region earned $13k/MW and $4,342/MWh for the period.

Total revenue was up 76% on H2 2025, which returned $17.79M. Per MW per day — which strips out both fleet growth and the length of the window — earnings were down 28% at $71/MW/day. Optimal capture improved 11 points, from 31% to 42%.

Energy arbitrage supplied 98% of the total and FCAS 1%, with estimated Frequency Performance Payments adding $185k. Within FCAS, regulation accounted for 86% and contingency 14%; the single largest market was raise regulation at $222k.

For context on the trading conditions, the average daily price spread (top two hours minus bottom two hours) in New South Wales was $148/MWh, down 44% on the previous period, and the highest spot price reached $20,300/MWh.

Against the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, New South Wales batteries captured 42% of what hindsight would have earned, an estimated $41.80M of unrealised upside.

On capture of the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, the strongest performers were Eraring Battery Energy Storage System (59%), Limondale Battery (57%), Riverena Energy Storage System 2 (56%). At the other end: Orana BESS (8%), Liddell Battery Energy Storage System (-55%), Mortlake Battery Energy Storage System (-58%) — capture reflects strategy, contracting and constraints as much as skill, so a low figure is not automatically underperformance.

The strongest single day was 10 Jan 2026 at $6.64M, and the best single battery-day was Eraring Battery Energy Storage System on 10 Jan 2026 with $3.62M. Revenue stays concentrated: five of the period's 181 days delivered 36% of everything New South Wales batteries earned.

4 batteries earned their first market revenue in the period — Orana BESS, Quorn Park Solar Hybrid, New England BESS, New England BESS — adding 634 MW of earning capacity.

Eraring Battery Energy Storage System led the region with $19.56M. Full dispatch, state-of-charge and bidding detail is available on each battery's page.

New South Wales saw 13 price events this period, the sharpest an extreme price event peaking at $20,300/MWh.

New South Wales batteries — H1 2026
BatteryEnergy + FCAS$/MW$/MWhCapture
Eraring Battery Energy Storage System$19.56M$43k/MW$9,797/MWh59%
Capital Battery$2.17M$22k/MW$11k/MWh43%
Smithfield Battery Energy Storage System, Units 1 - 36$1.99M$31k/MW$15k/MWh55%
Waratah Super Battery$1.57M$1,849/MW$936/MWh10%
Riverina Energy Storage System 1$1.46M$24k/MW$12k/MWh51%
Riverena Energy Storage System 2$1.46M$22k/MW$11k/MWh56%
Limondale Battery$1.38M$28k/MW$2,570/MWh57%
Wallgrove BESS 1$924k$18k/MW$12k/MWh40%
Broken Hill Battery Energy Storage System$595k$12k/MW$12k/MWh41%
Darlington Point Energy Storage System$552k$22k/MW$11k/MWh56%
Orana BESS$209k$504/MW$126/MWh8%
Quorn Park Solar Hybrid$50k$2,652/MW$1,260/MWh51%

Capture = actual energy revenue as a share of the perfect-foresight LP benchmark; shown only for units with material modelled upside.

In the news this period
Akaysha Energy’s 1,660MWh Orana BESS reaches commercial operations in Australia
Energy-Storage.News · 30 June 2026 · Orana BESS
Akaysha’s Orana BESS reaches commercial operation
Energy Source & Distribution · 30 June 2026 · Orana BESS
Waratah Super Battery operating at 82% following repair
Energy Source & Distribution · 8 June 2026 · Waratah Super Battery
Akaysha Energy’s Waratah Super Battery in Australia returns to 700MW as Transformer 2 comes back online
Energy-Storage.News · 5 June 2026 · Waratah Super Battery

Third-party reporting on these units, matched automatically and linked for context. NEMPulse does not endorse or verify external coverage.

Keep reading: Previous period: H2 2025NEM-wide wrap — H1 2026New South Wales battery fleetActual vs optimal dispatchMarket eventsHow capture is calculated

Explore: All insightsBattery fleetActual vs optimalPerformance rankingsMarket economicsMarket eventsBid stackBidding strategyVirtual power plantsProject simulatorAskPulseEmail alerts

Automatically generated from AEMO public data using fixed templates (not AI-written). Figures are estimated gross market revenue (energy + FCAS) from dispatch — they exclude contracts, hedges and network-support schemes (e.g. SIPS), so actual commercial revenue will differ.

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