NEMPulse · Insights · VIC1

Victoria Battery Wrap — Q1 2026

How Victoria's grid-scale batteries performed in Q1 2026: energy and FCAS market revenue, $/MW, $/MWh, top performers, and price events.

  • Energy + FCAS revenue: $17.58M
  • Batteries: 12
  • Rev / MW: $11k/MW
  • Rev / MWh: $5,333/MWh
  • Optimal capture: 55%
  • $/MW/day vs Q4 2025: -15%

Victoria (VIC1) batteries earned $17.58M in estimated gross energy and FCAS market revenue in Q1 2026, from 12 grid-scale units tracked by NEMPulse. Figures cover the full period.

Normalised across 1,620 MW and 3,296 MWh of registered capacity, the region earned $11k/MW and $5,333/MWh for the period.

Total revenue was down 17% on Q4 2025, which returned $21.23M. Per MW per day — which strips out both fleet growth and the length of the window — earnings were down 15% at $121/MW/day. Optimal capture slipped 5 points, from 61% to 55%.

Energy arbitrage supplied 95% of the total and FCAS 4%, with estimated Frequency Performance Payments adding $200k. Within FCAS, regulation accounted for 84% and contingency 16%; the single largest market was raise regulation at $488k.

For context on the trading conditions, the average daily price spread (top two hours minus bottom two hours) in Victoria was $128/MWh, down 18% on the previous period, and the highest spot price reached $3,026/MWh.

Against the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, Victoria batteries captured 55% of what hindsight would have earned, an estimated $13.27M of unrealised upside.

On capture of the perfect-foresight energy benchmark, the strongest performers were Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A3 (66%), Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A2 (62%), Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A1 (60%). At the other end: Phillip Island BESS (32%), Victorian Big Battery (26%), Bulgana Green Power Hub (12%) — capture reflects strategy, contracting and constraints as much as skill, so a low figure is not automatically underperformance.

The strongest single day was 27 Jan 2026 at $1.40M, and the best single battery-day was Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A3 on 27 Jan 2026 with $388k. Revenue stays concentrated: five of the period's 90 days delivered 22% of everything Victoria batteries earned.

Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A3 led the region with $4.77M. Full dispatch, state-of-charge and bidding detail is available on each battery's page.

Victoria saw 11 price events this period, the sharpest a price spike peaking at $3,026/MWh.

Victoria batteries — Q1 2026
BatteryEnergy + FCAS$/MW$/MWhCapture
Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A3$4.77M$24k/MW$5,964/MWh66%
Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A2$2.64M$13k/MW$6,609/MWh62%
Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub Connection A1$2.58M$13k/MW$6,451/MWh60%
Rangebank BESS$2.31M$12k/MW$5,783/MWh60%
Koorangie Energy Storage System$2.08M$11k/MW$5,617/MWh58%
Victorian Big Battery$1.07M$3,555/MW$2,370/MWh26%
Latrobe Valley BESS$967k$9,668/MW$4,834/MWh48%
Hazelwood Battery Energy Storage System$771k$5,138/MW$5,138/MWh44%
Gannawarra Energy Storage System$155k$5,181/MW$3,118/MWh40%
Ballarat Battery Energy Storage System$102k$3,406/MW$3,406/MWh36%
Bulgana Green Power Hub$78k$3,905/MW$2,297/MWh12%
Phillip Island BESS$52k$10k/MW$4,394/MWh32%

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
Victoria’s second-largest big battery poised to charge up, next to the state’s biggest gas gene...
Renew Economy · 9 Mar 2026 · Victorian Big Battery
The Victoria Big Battery was activated for SIPS on Friday afternoon 9th January 2026
WattClarity · 10 Jan 2026 · Victorian Big Battery
Victoria’s Latrobe Valley to welcome new BESS
Energy Magazine · 7 Jan 2026 · Latrobe Valley BESS

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 2026Victoria 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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