NEM Sub-5MW Solar and Storage - May 2026

Late autumn, and a corrective to the storage story. South Australia's bare solar farm had a respectable month on A$36,000 at A$69/MWh, 42% of its annual revenue. The storage premium all but vanished: SA's 2-hour battery grossed A$52,700, and after A$7,741 of SAPN network charges — 15% of gross — netted A$44,900, only A$8,900 ahead of unfirmed solar. The same battery added A$140,300 in June. Frequency markets were near-silent (A$236–950 fleet-wide) and spreads too narrow to cover round-trip losses, so SA's battery drew nothing at all from the grid all month, against 67 MWh in June. The fleet converged as a result: SA's 4-hour hybrid earned A$61,100, level with NSW on A$61,400 and Queensland on A$62,400, despite out-earning both two to one across the year.