New South Wales’ “staggering” battery energy storage system (BESS) pipeline, Tasmania’s pumped hydro potential, and Victoria’s support for utility-scale energy storage systems were among the key topics discussed on the second day of Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025 in a session hosted by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade).
New South Wales’ ‘staggering’ BESS pipeline
“New South Wales currently has a staggering 21GW of battery projects in the planning system,” EnergyCo’s executive director, strategy and policy, Chloe Hicks, said on day two of the Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025.
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Speaking as part of the State and Territory Spotlight networking roundtable, Hicks highlighted the opportunities for energy storage within New South Wales.
“I’m pleased to say that New South Wales has today 360MW of standalone battery storage systems in operation, 4GW of hydro and battery projects under construction and a further 5GW with development approvals,” Hicks added.
New South Wales has been a hotspot for energy storage developments in recent years. The state has several large-scale BESS, such as the Eraring BESS and the Waratah Super Battery. Hicks referenced the use of the Waratah battery when it prevented blackouts in the state at the end of November last year.
“The Waratah Super Battery is a flagship project and highlights the potential for battery storage to be the Swiss army knife of the energy transition, playing several diverse roles to help keep the lights on,” Hicks said.
The state has been aided by the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS), which is heavily referenced throughout the show as one of the key drivers of Australia’s energy transition. In the first tender, developers Elgin Energy and Lightsource bp succeeded with their respective solar PV projects in New South Wales. Elgin Energy saw a bid for its 60MW Glanmire solar-plus-storage project, featuring a 104MWh BESS, accepted.
Windlab also saw its 585MW Junction Rivers wind-plus-storage project successful in the tender round. This includes an 800MWh BESS co-located on-site.
Another key driver of the New South Wales energy storage market that Hicks references is the use of Long-Term Energy Service Agreements (LTESAs), a topic Thimo Mueller, general manager for commercial and AEMO Services, on day one of the Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025.
As reported by Energy-Storage.news, nearly 14GWh of long-duration energy storage (LDES) projects were successful in the latest New South Wales Roadmap competitive tender.
‘Small but mighty Tasmania’
James Pirie, programme director of significant projects strategy, Hydro Tasmania, noted that Tasmania is “small but mighty” in energy storage and the broader renewable energy market, owing to its wind and hydropower generation prowess.
Pirie told the summit that the Territory has “14TWh of storage capacity, which is larger than the rest of the NEM combined” and that its “demand, generation and storage varies significantly to the rest of the NEM”, offering opportunities to capitalise on its diversity.
However, despite the region’s potential for pumped hydro energy storage (PHES), this could be dampened by a lack of interconnectivity with mainland Australia. This echoes the thoughts of Thomas Fitzsimons, a senior modeller at UK-based research group Cornwall Insight, in an interview with Energy-Storage.news last year. Pirie believes increasing interconnectivity could support both Tasmania and its neighbour Victoria.
“More interconnection means Tasmanian and Victoria regions will be more closely linked, providing better access to our valuable storage resources,” Pirie said.
“Further interconnection will underpin Tasmania’s renewable energy growth and support meeting ambitious clean energy targets.”
Tasmania has been 100% self-sufficient in renewable electricity generation and net zero in six out of the last seven years. It is also connected to the NEM via the sole Basslink Interconnector.
The Basslink interconnector is a 500MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector from the Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria, on the Australian mainland, to the George Town substation in northern Tasmania.
An additional interconnector called Marinus Link is currently being developed. The project aims to construct a 1.5GW undersea HVDC interconnector between Victoria and Tasmania, with a completion date of 2030.
Victoria: ‘Australia’s home for utility-scale energy storage’
The state of Victoria, which is home to several large-scale BESS projects, was dubbed “Australia’s home for utility-scale energy storage systems” by Vanya Kumar, executive director of innovation, commercial and investment attraction, energy, for the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.
Indeed, Kumar noted the state has several large-scale BESS developments. This includes the 1.6GWh Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub and the 450MWh Victorian Big Battery, which was recently sold by French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen to ASX-listed alternative asset manager HMC Capital.
“Victoria has 12 large-scale utility-scale energy storage systems already commissioned, with a total output capacity of 750MW, with over 1,000MWh of capacity commissioned. We have five more utility-scale batteries with a total capacity of 2GW under construction as we speak,” Kumar added.
Kumar noted that financing and contracting structures in the energy storage sector are evolving, further incentivising investment in Victoria’s energy storage market.
This echoes the thoughts of Niall Brady, head of solar and battery storage at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), who recently told Energy-Storage.news that the Australian energy storage market is starting to see “new structures with a lot of people trying to figure things out.”
Kumar also believes lowering system costs for energy storage is also helping drive investment in the sector.
“Overall, pleasingly, we are seeing battery investment increase driven by market signals, and especially as critical mineral costs fall and new battery manufacturing comes online, globally, we have seen revenue opportunities growing,” Kumar added.
One of Victoria’s most significant renewable energy generation and storage drivers is the state-owned energy company State Electricity Commission (SEC). The company was reintroduced last year after the ‘Constitution Amendment Bill 2023’ enshrined the SEC in the Constitution and guaranteed future public ownership of renewable energy assets.
“The SEC is investing an initial AU$1 billion (US$630 million) towards delivering 4.5GW of new renewable energy generation and storage. The SEC is working with industry to identify projects that will deliver renewable energy jobs, address system gaps and build confidence,” Kumar said.
The SEC is supporting the development of the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub and recently tapped energy storage developer and system integrator Energy Vault to deliver a 200MWh BESS for the SEC Renewable Energy Park in Victoria’s west, near Horsham.
