{"id":892203,"date":"2026-09-14T23:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T23:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892203\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T23:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T23:18:13","slug":"australias-dependence-on-gas-generation-during-evening-energy-peak-falls-by-almost-70-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892203\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s dependence on gas generation during evening energy peak falls by almost 70% | Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s dependence on gas for power during the evening, when the grid is under the most pressure, has fallen by almost nearly 70% over the past year as batteries surged in, replacing the fossil fuel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gas generation during the busy early evening, between 5pm and 8pm, fell by 67% in the year to August, as large-scale batteries continued to come online and 500,000 home batteries were installed<\/a> under the government\u2019s subsidy program, analysis by consultancy EnergyEdge found.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s managing director, Josh Stabler, said batteries big and small recorded their highest peak output on record, off the back of rapid uptake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rate of installation of batteries in Australia is the fastest uptake of any electricity asset ever \u2013 faster than solar, faster than wind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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According to the EnergyEdge report: \u201cbatteries have taken the evening peak, and they\u2019re not giving it back\u201d. Batteries met 49% of the grid\u2019s dispatchable power needs during the evening in August 2026, up from 0.4% in 2020. In contrast, gas fell from 65.9% to 20.6% over the same period.<\/p>\n

Wholesale electricity prices fell in response \u2013 a win for households \u2013 but potentially a problem for future investment in new dispatchable power.<\/p>\n

Recent quarterly data (April to June) from the Australian Energy Market Operator highlighted<\/a> a similar pattern, with gas generation recording its lowest Q2 on average in more than two decades. Gas power declined in all regions, the AEMO said, with the fall \u201cmost evident\u201d during the evening peak.<\/p>\n

The Grattan Institute\u2019s energy and climate change program director, Alison Reeve, said utility scale batteries were increasingly mopping up surplus renewable energy in the middle of the day and displacing the role of gas during the peak.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOverall, this is super good news. What you actually end up doing is flattening out the load curve over the day,\u201d she said, and that reduced volatility in the system.<\/p>\n

In the longer term, less gas and lower volatility should be good for prices, she said. Although the declining demand and added uncertainty could make gas more expensive and less profitable at those times when it was needed \u2013 in those few dark, still and cold weeks in winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of the challenge that is coming for gas,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that gas generators are going to be important, because they\u2019re going to be the backup when you get those two weeks in winter where solar, wind and batteries can\u2019t carry you through.\u201d<\/p>\n

AEMO\u2019s 20-year roadmap<\/a>, the Integrated System Plan, anticipated gas would play \u201ca more strategic, back-up role, with flexible generators that can also provide system security service\u201d in future. \u201cThis is more likely to be in winter, especially in the southern states, when shorter days reduce solar output, and when more electricity is needed for longer and colder nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cGas is going through a transition and its whole role is going to change,\u201d Reeve said, a shift that would affect the amount of gas needed, the number of generators and the running costs. \u201cThe sooner that we actually grasp that the future for gas generators is going to look nothing like the past, the better we will be at managing that whole process and making sure it doesn\u2019t end up costing people a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s dependence on gas for power during the evening, when the grid is under the most pressure, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-892203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}