McKercher / News & perspectives
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WA's Capacity Price Benchmark Moves Back to a Gas Turbine
The Coordinator of Energy published a Draft Determination on 9 September 2026 proposing an E-Class simple cycle gas turbine as the benchmark technology behind both of Western Australia's capacity prices. A battery held that reference until a duration rule moved from six hours to seven.
Battery Sizing Fragmented After the 1 May Capacity Taper
Analysis published on 7 September 2026 records the size that dominated Australian battery installations in April losing most of its market within a month of the federal capacity taper starting. By July no single size held more than about five per cent, and the quarterly average fell about a tenth.
Australia Has Entered the Retrofit Stage of the Home Battery Market
A market-stage framework published on 31 August 2026 places Australia in the retrofit stage, where battery-only installations have climbed from under a tenth of the market to around 40 per cent and batteries now outnumber new solar systems. The stage draws on a finite pool of existing rooftops.
WA builds its own solar recycling market as the national pilot sits idle
Western Australia has committed $13 million to establish end-of-life solar collection and recycling pathways under Remade in WA, and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has commissioned the Smart Energy Council to run the stakeholder engagement that will shape it. Installers can contribute until 9 September 2026. The national pilot the state work would otherwise have followed has been suspended since May.
Synergy opens applications for the WA third party aggregation market
Synergy has opened the first application round for Aggregator Panel membership under Western Australia's Third Party Aggregation Framework. Panel membership is the entry condition for any organisation that wants to build market services on the batteries and solar systems of households and small businesses in the South West Interconnected System.
Cheaper Home Batteries passes 500,000 installations
The Australian Government announced on 14 August 2026 that more than 500,000 batteries have been installed under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program. The accredited installer base has doubled to 8,846 since the program commenced, which is the figure with the most direct bearing on how the market behaves from here.
The Battery Market Slowdown Is Partly a Reporting Lag
Battery registrations fell sharply after the 1 May certificate changes. Part of that fall is a reporting artefact, because installers have twelve months to create certificates and recent months are always incomplete when first published.
Announced 1 MW Commercial Solar Rebate Cap
The Commonwealth will lift the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme's maximum eligible system size tenfold, from 100 kW to 1 MW. The change is scheduled for 1 October and remains subject to regulation.
WA Household Battery Capacity Grew 39 Per Cent as Wholesale Prices Set a Record
AEMO's Quarterly Energy Dynamics for the June 2026 quarter records a 39 per cent rise in Western Australian household battery capacity alongside a record average wholesale energy price in the Wholesale Electricity Market.
What GenCost 2025-26 Means for the Battery Market
CSIRO and AEMO's GenCost 2025-26 work records another double-digit fall in large-scale battery costs and keeps firmed renewables as the lowest-cost pathway.
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