Australia connected a record 9.1 GW of renewables and storage in FY26, AEMO reports
AEMO’s June 2026 scorecard shows Australia connected a record 9.1 GW of new renewables and storage in FY26, more than double FY25, with batteries leading.
Photo by joao Guerreiro on Pexels
Australia connected a record 9.1 GW of new generation and storage capacity in the 2025/26 financial year, more than double the previous year’s total, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s June 2026 Connections Scorecard. The figure, covering 34 projects that reached full output, was reported by pv magazine and Energy-Storage.News on July 20, 2026. The Australia renewables record was led by battery storage, which dominated both the connections and the forward pipeline.
The 9.1 GW total carried 12.9 GWh of storage and compares with 4.4 GW delivered in FY25, according to pv magazine. AEMO counts only capacity that reached full output; Energy-Storage.News notes that total incremental output including projects still commissioning at partial levels reached 10.5 GW across the year, a broader measure that should not be confused with the 9.1 GW headline.
Australia renewables record: FY26 against FY25
Margarida Pimentel, AEMO’s group manager for onboarding and connections, stated that “together, these technologies will play an important role in delivering the diverse mix of resources needed to support Australia’s energy transition.” The year-on-year jump is the clearest signal in the scorecard.
The June 2026 quarter alone accounted for 3.9 GW across 14 projects. Standalone batteries made up the largest share of that quarter, ahead of co-located solar and battery, standalone solar, and wind.
Batteries dominate the connections pipeline
The forward pipeline grew 42% over the year, from 53 GW to 75.4 GW. Batteries account for 52% of that capacity, with solar-and-storage hybrids at 18% and onshore wind at 15%, according to Energy-Storage.News. AEMO also recorded 2.4 GW of existing solar projects that began or completed adding a battery system during FY26.
| Metric | FY26 figure |
|---|---|
| New capacity at full output | 9.1 GW / 12.9 GWh (34 projects) |
| Prior year (FY25) | 4.4 GW |
| June 2026 quarter connections | 3.9 GW (14 projects) |
| Connections pipeline | 75.4 GW, up 42% from 53 GW |
| Battery share of pipeline | 52% |
| Solar-and-storage hybrid share of pipeline | 18% |
| Onshore wind share of pipeline | 15% |
| Solar projects adding storage in FY26 | 2.4 GW |
| Median proponent-implementation phase | 18 months, up from 14 |
Source: AEMO June 2026 Connections Scorecard, as reported by pv magazine and Energy-Storage.News, July 20, 2026.
Not every trend in the scorecard points up. AEMO reported that the median time projects spend in the proponent-implementation phase, the stretch between approval and construction, lengthened from 14 to 18 months, and that about one-third of projects have been stuck in that stage for more than two years. FY26 registrations came to 7.4 GW and application approvals to 14.2 GW, both slightly below FY25, even as application-stage capacity more than doubled year on year.
Background
Australia’s National Electricity Market has been shifting from coal toward variable renewables backed by storage, a transition AEMO tracks through its quarterly Connections Scorecard. The dominance of batteries in both the June quarter and the pipeline reflects a wider move to firm solar and wind output with storage rather than add generation alone, a pattern seen in global data such as IRENA’s finding that renewable energy capacity hit 5,149 GW in 2025. Storage is central to the argument over whether variable supply can be relied upon, a question examined in the analysis of whether renewable energy is really unreliable due to intermittency, and to longer-duration options covered in the report on iron-air batteries for long-duration storage. The FY26 scorecard shows the near-term record being set by lithium batteries and solar, with grid connection timelines now the main constraint on how fast that capacity comes online.
Sources: pv magazine Global; Energy-Storage.News
Featured image: photo by joao Guerreiro on Pexels (free Pexels license).
For more on this topic, see our explainer on how grid-scale battery storage actually works.
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I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.
