ESN Premium speaks with Fluence’s Jeff Monday and Sam Markham on the opportunity battery energy storage could provide data centres in Australia.

Habitat Energy has been appointed by Octopus Australia to provide optimisation services for two DC-coupled solar-plus-storage sites.

BESS and solar have driven Australia past the halfway mark in NEM renewable penetration, but the technology mix is not yet broad enough.

Grid-forming BESS have not yet been confirmed to meet the highest tier of system strength requirements in Australia’s NEM, according to AEMO.

1414 Degrees has signed a deal to develop up to 1GW of AI data centre infrastructure at its Aurora Energy Precinct in South Australia.

Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has submitted a 520MW standalone BESS in the ACT to Australia’s EPBC Act.

Large data centres should serve as “anchor tenants” for new renewable energy generation, storage, and transmission investment, leveraging the scale and longevity of digital infrastructure commitments to advance energy projects rather than waiting for supply to arrive.

Neoen Australia has commenced construction of a 227MW/907MWh grid-forming battery storage system in South Australia.

NEM-wide battery price spreads fell 85% in a single year to average AU$51/MWh (US$35/MWh) in Q2 2026, according to AEMO.

Two Australian solar-plus-storage projects advance: Ark Energy secures AU$1.3 billion for 2.2GWh Richmond Valley project; Quinbrook submits 250MWp Queensland site.