Origin Energy, Australia’s largest electricity retailer and the owner of the country’s largest remaining coal plant, has confirmed that renewables are the cheapest source of new generation, while big and small batteries increasingly step in and perform the role of peaking gas plants.
In its 2025-26 financial year results, announced on Thursday, the big-three gentailer posted a small dip in energy market earnings “against a backdrop of ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, significant shifts in global commodity markets, …a shifting regulatory landscape, and rapid technology change.”
What has remained consistent, however, is that “renewables remain the lowest cost form of new energy generation,” and that solar and wind, combined with consumer electrification and big and small batteries, are “bringing benefits including reduced emissions and lower wholesale prices.”
Origin, which also holds the largest battery and peaking portfolio in the National Electricity Market NEM, currently has 1.3 gigawatts (GW) and 4.1 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of large-scale batteries operational as at August, including the newly grid connected 300 MW / 650 megawatt-hour Mortlake battery in Victoria.
It also operates 3 GW of gas-fired generation assets and the 2.8 GW Eraring black coal-fired power plant in New South Wales, which is scheduled to close at the end of April in 2029, and the partially completed Eraring battery. It also has contracts for the big Supernode battery in Queensland.
