How New South Wales's grid-scale batteries performed in Q1 2026: energy and FCAS market revenue, $/MW, $/MWh, top performers, and price events.
New South Wales (NSW1) batteries earned $18.72M in estimated gross energy and FCAS market revenue in Q1 2026, from 13 grid-scale units tracked by NEMPulse. Figures cover the full period.
Normalised across 1,559 MW and 5,495 MWh of registered capacity, the region earned $12k/MW and $3,406/MWh for the period.
Total revenue was up 88% on Q4 2025, which returned $9.96M. Per MW per day — which strips out both fleet growth and the length of the window — earnings were up 77% at $133/MW/day. Optimal capture improved 17 points, from 28% to 45%.
Energy arbitrage supplied 98% of the total and FCAS 1%, with estimated Frequency Performance Payments adding $93k. Within FCAS, regulation accounted for 81% and contingency 19%; the single largest market was raise regulation at $121k.
For context on the trading conditions, the average daily price spread (top two hours minus bottom two hours) in New South Wales was $207/MWh, down 35% on the previous period, and the highest spot price reached $20,300/MWh.
Against the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, New South Wales batteries captured 45% of what hindsight would have earned, an estimated $22.27M of unrealised upside.
On capture of the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, the strongest performers were Smithfield Battery Energy Storage System, Units 1 - 36 (60%), Eraring Battery Energy Storage System (59%), Limondale Battery (55%). At the other end: Orana BESS (15%), Liddell Battery Energy Storage System (-9%), Waratah Super Battery (-14%) — 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 90 days delivered 58% of everything New South Wales batteries earned.
4 batteries earned their first market revenue in the period — Quorn Park Solar Hybrid, Orana BESS, New England BESS, New England BESS — adding 634 MW of earning capacity.
Eraring Battery Energy Storage System led the region with $12.91M. 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.
| Battery | Energy + FCAS | $/MW | $/MWh | Capture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eraring Battery Energy Storage System | $12.91M | $28k/MW | $6,465/MWh | 59% |
| Capital Battery | $1.51M | $15k/MW | $7,545/MWh | 42% |
| Smithfield Battery Energy Storage System, Units 1 - 36 | $1.49M | $23k/MW | $11k/MWh | 60% |
| Riverina Energy Storage System 1 | $1.01M | $17k/MW | $8,457/MWh | 50% |
| Riverena Energy Storage System 2 | $953k | $15k/MW | $7,327/MWh | 55% |
| Wallgrove BESS 1 | $730k | $15k/MW | $9,357/MWh | 47% |
| Broken Hill Battery Energy Storage System | $461k | $9,228/MW | $9,228/MWh | 42% |
| Darlington Point Energy Storage System | $361k | $14k/MW | $7,215/MWh | 54% |
| Limondale Battery | $159k | $3,183/MW | $297/MWh | 55% |
| Quorn Park Solar Hybrid | $17k | $908/MW | $431/MWh | 48% |
| Orana BESS | $13k | $32/MW | $8/MWh | 15% |
| New England BESS | $4k | $42/MW | $17/MWh | — |
Capture = actual energy revenue as a share of the perfect-foresight LP benchmark; shown only for units with material modelled upside.
Third-party reporting on these units, matched automatically and linked for context. NEMPulse does not endorse or verify external coverage.
Keep reading: NEM-wide wrap — Q1 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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