How South Australia's grid-scale batteries performed in Q1 2026: energy and FCAS market revenue, $/MW, $/MWh, top performers, and price events.
South Australia (SA1) batteries earned $36.69M in estimated gross energy and FCAS market revenue in Q1 2026, from 14 grid-scale units tracked by NEMPulse. Figures cover the full period.
Normalised across 990 MW and 1,578 MWh of registered capacity, the region earned $37k/MW and $23k/MWh for the period.
Total revenue was up 155% on Q4 2025, which returned $14.37M. Per MW per day — which strips out both fleet growth and the length of the window — earnings were up 143% at $412/MW/day. Optimal capture improved 12 points, from 51% to 62%.
Energy arbitrage supplied 99% of the total and FCAS 1%, with estimated Frequency Performance Payments adding $116k. Within FCAS, regulation accounted for 78% and contingency 22%; the single largest market was raise regulation at $214k.
For context on the trading conditions, the average daily price spread (top two hours minus bottom two hours) in South Australia was $550/MWh, up 137% on the previous period, and the highest spot price reached $20,300/MWh.
Against the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, South Australia batteries captured 62% of what hindsight would have earned, an estimated $21.52M of unrealised upside.
On capture of the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, the strongest performers were Bolivar Waste Water Treatment Plant (113%), Christies Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant (102%), Happy Valley Water Treatment Plant (90%). At the other end: Dalrymple North BESS (24%), Clements Gap BESS (6%), Bungama Battery Energy Storage System (-57%) — capture reflects strategy, contracting and constraints as much as skill, so a low figure is not automatically underperformance.
The strongest single day was 26 Jan 2026 at $18.24M, and the best single battery-day was Blyth Battery Energy Storage System on 26 Jan 2026 with $4.77M. Revenue stays concentrated: five of the period's 90 days delivered 70% of everything South Australia batteries earned.
2 batteries earned their first market revenue in the period — Clements Gap BESS, Lincoln Gap Wind Farm Battery — adding 69 MW of earning capacity.
Blyth Battery Energy Storage System led the region with $9.03M. Full dispatch, state-of-charge and bidding detail is available on each battery's page.
South Australia saw 60 price events this period, the sharpest an extreme price event peaking at $20,300/MWh.
| Battery | Energy + FCAS | $/MW | $/MWh | Capture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blyth Battery Energy Storage System | $9.03M | $45k/MW | $23k/MWh | 66% |
| Templers Battery Energy Storage System | $7.91M | $71k/MW | $28k/MWh | 78% |
| Torrens Island BESS | $7.79M | $31k/MW | $31k/MWh | 57% |
| Mannum Battery Energy Storage System | $5.95M | $60k/MW | $30k/MWh | 69% |
| Hornsdale Power Reserve | $3.12M | $21k/MW | $16k/MWh | 43% |
| Tailem Bend 2 Hybrid Renewable Power Station | $1.24M | $30k/MW | $30k/MWh | 64% |
| Lake Bonney BESS1 | $730k | $29k/MW | $14k/MWh | 41% |
| Adelaide Desalination Plant | $287k | $47k/MW | $48k/MWh | 88% |
| Happy Valley Water Treatment Plant | $210k | $53k/MW | $53k/MWh | 90% |
| Dalrymple North BESS | $203k | $6,760/MW | $17k/MWh | 24% |
| Bolivar Waste Water Treatment Plant | $141k | $70k/MW | $70k/MWh | 113% |
| Christies Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant | $130k | $61k/MW | $65k/MWh | 102% |
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 2026South Australia 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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