u/AndrewTyeFighter

In Short:

The summer heat sparked record power use, but renewable energy was able to meet that additional demand.

In its first-quarter snapshot for 2026, Australia's market operator also showed that rising battery capacity was eating into gas use.

• Coal-fired power generation down over the year
• Q1 2026 was lowest gas use since 1999
• New records for grid-scale solar and wind farms for Q1 2026
• No major supply issues or outages during record demand
• Total emissions dropped by almost 5 per cent
• Lower power prices are expected to flow through to consumers

Batteries eat into gas demand

Most notable, though, was the effect of added battery capacity to the grid, which has doubled from this time last year.

That growth in battery capacity managed to shift about three times as much power from the daytime, when solar power is plentiful, into the evening, when demand is high.

It has caused the need for gas-fired generation to drop by more than a quarter from the same time last year, recording the lowest average for any quarter since 1999.