Australians are taking up cheap, clean and reliable solar and batteries at world record rates, as a healthy pipeline of investment for large scale renewables shows the energy transformation is full steam ahead.
Today's March Quarterly Carbon Market Report shows 7.4 GWh of capacity was installed across the country in the first nine months of the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, prompting households to import less from the grid and export more during evening peaks.
The 420,000 cheaper home batteries now installed amount to over 12 GWh of usable capacity, meaning Australia has been installing more home battery capacity than anywhere else in the world.
Australia is now ranked third globally across home and utility-scale battery storage, behind only China and the United States, after 4.4 GW of capacity was commissioned in the year to March and a record 4.3 GW of large-scale battery capacity reached final investment in 2025.
Large-scale renewables approvals and investment remain strong in 2026, with financial investment decisions made on 2.4 GW of new wind and solar projects, already exceeding 2025 only five months in.
Small-scale solar installations hit a Q1 record of 791 MW in the three months to March, continuing the trend of household solar offsetting growth in electricity demand in the National Electricity Market.
With household batteries and solar changing the energy grid, additional storage in coming months and years is likely to reduce instances of large-scale renewable generators having to lower output due to low or negative prices.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the Government's policy settings were right for Australia's future energy needs.
"Our plan is delivering more cheaper, cleaner energy at record rates. "We've got the best sun and wind in the world, and we're using our sovereign renewables to shield our grid from global energy volatility and to bring down your energy bills.
"Our roll out of more renewables and storage saw batteries more than triple their daytime-to evening energy shifting in the first quarter, reducing our reliance on unreliable coal to put downward pressure on bills, as we saw in last week's Default Market Offer (DMO).
"The Coalition's plan is to stop renewables and household batteries, sweat coal, and leave Australians to pick up the bill of global shocks.
"We know energy bills are still too high - because when coal breaks down, your bill goes up - but this news shows steady progress."
There are now 26.9 GW of renewables projects either under contract or in negotiation under the Government's reliable renewables plan, which aims to have 26 GW of new utility-scale generation and 14 GW of dispatchable capacity commissioned by 2030.
Thirty-five projects have already executed a Capacity Investment Scheme Agreement with the Government, including 20 generation projects amounting to 6.9 GW and 15 dispatchable projects adding up to 3.3 GW or 11.9 GWh.
