That charging activity was concentrated in the daytime window between 1000 and 1600 hours, when solar generation is at its highest and prices are typically at their lowest, with daytime charging reaching 1,009MW, up 211% year-on-year.
Evening discharge between 16:00 and 21:00 hours rose by 1,066MW, or 228%, over the same period, with the fleet absorbing cheap midday solar and releasing it during the demand peak.
Peak battery charging set a new record of 3,653MW on 7 June, surpassing the previous record of 2,834MW set in Q4 2025 by 819MW. Peak discharge also reached a new high of 3,759MW on 26 June, 203MW above the previous record set in Q1 2026.
Battery storage systems became the most frequently used price-setting technology in the NEM during Q2, accounting for 36% of dispatch intervals, up from 17% in Q2 2025.
Battery discharge set prices in 46% of dispatch intervals during the evening peak period, up 24 percentage points year-on-year, displacing gas and hydro as the dominant price-setter in those hours.
