How New South Wales's grid-scale batteries performed in May 2026: energy and FCAS market revenue, $/MW, $/MWh, top performers, and price events.
New South Wales (NSW1) batteries earned $3.84M in estimated gross energy and FCAS market revenue in May 2026, from 11 grid-scale units tracked by NEMPulse. Figures cover the full period.
Normalised across 1,794 MW and 5,010 MWh of registered capacity, the region earned $2,142/MW and $767/MWh for the period.
Total revenue was down 37% on April 2026, which returned $6.09M. Per MW per day — which strips out both fleet growth and the length of the window — earnings were down 39% at $69/MW/day. Optimal capture slipped 19 points, from 55% to 36%.
Energy arbitrage supplied 98% of the total and FCAS 1%, with estimated Frequency Performance Payments adding $34k. Within FCAS, regulation accounted for 88% and contingency 12%; the single largest market was raise regulation at $36k.
For context on the trading conditions, the average daily price spread (top two hours minus bottom two hours) in New South Wales was $92/MWh, down 9% on the previous period, and the highest spot price reached $341/MWh.
Against the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, New South Wales batteries captured 36% of what hindsight would have earned, an estimated $6.50M of unrealised upside.
On capture of the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, the strongest performers were Limondale Battery (72%), Darlington Point Energy Storage System (54%), Riverena Energy Storage System 2 (52%). At the other end: Mortlake Battery Energy Storage System (-22%), Orana BESS (-39%), Liddell Battery Energy Storage System (-148%) — capture reflects strategy, contracting and constraints as much as skill, so a low figure is not automatically underperformance.
The strongest single day was 31 May 2026 at $375k, and the best single battery-day was Eraring Battery Energy Storage System on 28 May 2026 with $167k. Revenue stays concentrated: five of the period's 31 days delivered 42% of everything New South Wales batteries earned.
Eraring Battery Energy Storage System led the region with $1.91M. Full dispatch, state-of-charge and bidding detail is available on each battery's page.
| Battery | Energy + FCAS | $/MW | $/MWh | Capture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eraring Battery Energy Storage System | $1.91M | $4,150/MW | $956/MWh | 51% |
| Waratah Super Battery | $911k | $1,072/MW | $543/MWh | 27% |
| Limondale Battery | $608k | $12k/MW | $1,134/MWh | 72% |
| Capital Battery | $186k | $1,858/MW | $929/MWh | 37% |
| Riverena Energy Storage System 2 | $150k | $2,311/MW | $1,155/MWh | 52% |
| Riverina Energy Storage System 1 | $142k | $2,363/MW | $1,182/MWh | 47% |
| Smithfield Battery Energy Storage System, Units 1 - 36 | $132k | $2,024/MW | $1,012/MWh | 29% |
| Darlington Point Energy Storage System | $56k | $2,248/MW | $1,124/MWh | 54% |
| Wallgrove BESS 1 | $56k | $1,116/MW | $715/MWh | 20% |
| Broken Hill Battery Energy Storage System | $35k | $706/MW | $706/MWh | 31% |
| Quorn Park Solar Hybrid | $7k | $377/MW | $179/MWh | — |
Capture = actual energy revenue as a share of the perfect-foresight LP benchmark; shown only for units with material modelled upside.
Keep reading: NEM-wide wrap — May 2026New South Wales battery fleetActual vs optimal dispatchMarket eventsHow capture is calculated
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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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