The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has released its latest Quarterly Investment Report: Large-scale renewable generation and storage Q1 2025, revealing that Q1 2025 was the the second best on record for investment in large-scale batteries in Australia.
The report found that six projects worth $2.4 billion in total reached the financial commitment stage – delivering an extra 1.5GW in storage capacity and 5GWh in energy output.
Arron Wood, CEC Chief Policy and Impact Officer, said it was encouraging to see sustained momentum in investment for large-scale battery and storage projects given they are critical to achieving reliable and affordable energy generation through renewables such as wind and solar.
“Energy storage systems, such as big batteries, are a critical part of Australia’s future energy mix and act as a reliable back-up system allowing us to store renewable energy for when it is needed most and keep the lights on under all conditions,” he said.
Wood said it’s great to see the high levels of investment over the past couple of years continue.
“Wind and solar combined with energy storage is the lowest-cost form of electricity generation and by installing more battery storage projects across the country, Australians can get the biggest benefits from renewable energy through cheaper, cleaner, more reliable power – while creating thousands of new jobs.”
The largest BESS (battery energy storage system) project reaching financial commitment for the quarter was in Wooreen, Victoria, with a storage capacity/energy output of 350 MW/1.4GWh, and duration of four hours, while South Australia had the largest share of financially committed storage projects in capacity (640MW/1.8GWh).
In addition to the six projects that reached financial commitment, a further three battery storage projects commenced construction in the first quarter of 2025, with a total of 840MW/2.9 GWh in storage capacity/energy output.
The report found while there were strong results in BESS projects reaching the financial commitment stage in the first quarter of 2025, renewable energy generation projects reaching financial close during the same period got off to a slow start.
Wood said despite a slower start to the first quarter of 2025, which is typical for Q1 compared to other quarters, investment in both renewable power generation and big battery storage is expected to gain traction with greater political certainty.
“There is no doubt the 2025 Federal Election caused a degree of investor uncertainty earlier this year, given the stark differences in energy policy between the two major parties,” Wood said.
“Subdued levels of investment are fairly typical in the first quarter of the year; however, the clear-cut result of this election has given the government a mandate to continue leading Australia’s transition to clean energy and that has provided markets with policy certainty and a clear signal about where to invest,” he said.
Two renewable energy generation projects totalling 386MW achieved financial close in the first quarter of 2025 – AMP Energy’s Bungama Solar Farm in South Australia and European Energy’s Lancaster Solar Farm in Victoria, worth $410 million in total investment.
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