A new chart from Energy Synapse founder and managing director Marija Petkovic has offered a new snapshot on how big batteries fed on a diet of excess wind and solar are increasingly muscling out fossil fuels from the lucrative evening peak.
Petkovic, a leading expert on Australia’s wholesale electricity markets and battery storage, says discharged energy from utility-scale batteries increased by more than three times over the 12-month period to August 1, 2026, thanks to the rapid influx of new storage capacity – and much of this is displacing gas.
The chart also illustrates why prolonging the life of Australia’s old coal plants is problematic on a number of levels, including operational and transitional, as well as being a blight on climate action.
As Petkovic points out, “no coal exited the market, but total generation reduced by over 4 TWh (4%). On a percentage basis, gas was the biggest loser, down 28%.
“Generation from all renewables increased. Wind up 13%, large-scale solar up 15%, rooftop solar up 9%.”
The lack of coal exits is not just bad for the climate and for gas. It’s having a counter-productive drag effect on the entire transition, as Petkovic notes:
“As supply has grown without any coal exits, revenue outcomes have significantly compressed for BESS, wind and solar. A soft revenue environment makes it harder to invest in the additional capacity the transition needs.”
Meanwhile, taxpayer-funded state government deals to extend the lives of aging coal plants diverts capital away from grid-scale storage and transmission infrastructure that is need to accommodate enough renewables to replace coal.
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