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Nov 13, 2026 - The End Of Standalone Solar In Australia Why does almost every new solar farm in Australia now come with a battery? And if batteries are earning more, why keep building solar at all? In this explainer, Frances, market analyst at Modo Energy, breaks down why solar and batteries are being built together in Australia`s National Electricity Market (NEM), and why the pairing benefits both technologies. What is a solar hybrid? A hybrid is a project where the solar farm and the battery share a grid connection. Standalone solar capacity in the NEM peaked in 2025 and is now shrinking as existing solar farms retrofit batteries. Meanwhile, 98% of new grid-scale solar in the pipeline comes with a battery, and most of those projects are hybrids. Why are solar prices so low in the middle of the day? Solar has boomed across Australia over the last decade, on rooftops and at grid scale. When the sun is out, everyone generates at once, and prices crash, sometimes going negative. Over the past year, solar farms earned about $26 per megawatt hour, 60% less than the average market price. How do batteries help solar? Batteries can charge up at midday when power is cheap, then sell in the evening when prices are higher. But Australia has built batteries faster than any other country per capita, and evening prices have more than halved in a year. Batteries increasingly need to earn their money by reacting to prices across the whole day. Why do solar and batteries work well together? They sit on opposite sides of midday prices. When midday prices crash, solar earns less but the battery charges for almost nothing. When midday prices hold up, solar earns more. Frances walks through two days in August in New South Wales that show each side covering the other. Why keep building solar if batteries earn more? Batteries don`t make electricity, they move it around. As coal retires and demand grows, the grid still needs new generation, and solar is the cheapest form of electricity. Modo Energy’s forecast sees solar built economically at a rapid pace out to the 2050s and beyond, with data centres and industrial users signing contracts for solar paired with storage. Why build a hybrid instead of separate solar and battery sites? It is mostly cheaper and quicker. A hybrid shares land, equipment, operating staff and, crucially, the grid connection. Approvals and grid connection are two of the biggest holdups for new projects in Australia, and the two technologies make the most of one connection without getting in each other`s way. Similar news:
Nov 7, 2026 Solar power above, fish farming below |
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