Earlier today (Friday 7th November 2025) we saw something strange in our display of the ‘Generator Outages’ widget from ez2view with respect to the Waratah BESS, as a result of which:
1) We posted the article ‘What’s up with Waratah BESS (unplanned outage till 3rd May 2026)?’;
2) Following from which we started conversations with a range of different people – including:
(a) Some people we know at Akaysha Energy, the owner/operator of the battery;
(b) But also with a range of other knowledgeable NEM (and battery) stakeholders we though might help us answer some of the questions that data posed for us.
From these conversations came more information (and some more questions as well), as a result of which we’re publishing a few more articles* separately to follow on. This is one of those articles.
* There are several reasons for there being separate articles, including:
1) Because the 4pm (NEM time) newsletter for today has already triggered, so we wanted to ensure that our readers are aware of these additional pieces of information … hence the discrete articles
2) But it’s also likely that it will be useful to link directly into some of them at different points in time.
Almost exactly 3 months ago we posted a ~12 month chronological record of the history of Waratah BESS in the article ‘Recapping operations at Waratah BESS (including enablement for SIPS) … to August 2025’. That article contained both:
- A trend over time; and also
- A tabulated record of key events in its timeline
… with both to the date of publication (Friday 8th August 2025).
Because some of the conversations (and questions) this afternoon related to operations over time (and in particular changes since August 2025), we thought it would be useful to update both of these, as follows:
A trend over time
Given that I’d prepared a trend analysis in the ‘Trends Engine’ within ez2view it was a pretty simple process to re-open the query and have the most recent 3 months of daily statistics stream into the record now stretching back for just over 14 months:
Again, remember that
- (post IESS) the charging side of any battery (now a BDU) is shown as negative numbers.
- to click on the image for a full screen view
There’s some pretty clear differences compared to the chart from three months earlier, which we will discuss in the table below.
More events in its lifetime (August to 7th November 2025)
Rather than copying in the table from three months earlier, we’ve just picked up where we left off in the earlier article, and have added in more recent events
| Date, or Date Range | Description of Event |
|---|---|
|
Friday, |
Obviously we need to make note of today’s change to the MT PASA DUID Availability data for the WTAHB1 unit, and the questions that arose for us when we saw these:
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from 19th October 2025 |
Since 19th october, the market-based delivery of the unit has been more muted:
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mid-October 2025 |
As noted with respect to the trend chart above:
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4th October 2025 |
On 4th October 2025 we wrote ‘AEMO updated MT PASA guidance, on 3rd October 2025’ , and this pertains to WTAHB1 because of the text in Market Notice 129413 as follows: ‘Increases to transmission ratings for lines between Yass and Sydney West associated with the Waratah Super Battery Project are expected to be incorporated in coming weeks, which will likely decrease projected risks in New South Wales.’ … though I have not looked now to see if such transmission rates have been incorporated. |
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d2 September 2025 |
Might add more in here later… |
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d1 September 2025 |
Might add more in here later… |
|
31st August 2025 |
On 31st August 2025, we’d published the article ‘Looking more at (commissioning) operations at Waratah BESS through August 2025’. |
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29th August 2025 |
Because it’s quite relevant to the startling change in forward-looking availability for WTAHB1 that happened today, worth flagging in this table that it was back on Friday 29th August 2025 that the AER published its PASA Compliance Bulletin and Checklist, as we have belatedly now noted. |
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The last entry in the earlier table, published on: |
In that earlier article, we’d noted: Worth readers noting two (other) things with respect to the month of August (in addition to the below): Additional Observation #1) We see in the chart above that: (a) the peak ENERGY discharge from the battery, to date, has been at the rate of 369MW: i. on 17th June 2025 … and then on some days subsequently ii. but note that this does not include any enablement for Raise FCAS services. (b) but note that this is under half of the registered Maximum Capacity of the unit (850MW) Additional Observation #2) It’s worth noting (with respect to the note below about May 2024) that 19th August 2025 was the date at which Eraring Power Station had earlier been slated to close. |
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Worth also explicitly noting: |
On 1st August 2025,the AEMO communicated by MN128419 that: ‘——————————————————————- From : AEMO ——————————————————————- Notice ID : 128419 ——————————————————————- Reason : AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE. The Waratah Super Battery System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) has been enabled by TransGrid at 1758 hrs 01/08/2025. Manager NEM Real Time Operations ——————————————————————- … which was subsequently flagged in various official locations, including: 1) On 5th August Akaysha Energy wrote ‘The Waratah Super Battery is online’; … which noted that: ‘Akaysha Energy is proud to announce that the first 350 megawatts (700 megawatt hours) of the Waratah Super Battery is online and performing its role as a ‘shock absorber’ for the NSW electricity grid in case of events like heatwaves, lightning strikes and bush fires.’ 2) On 5th August EnergyCo wrote ‘Waratah Super Battery Project begins partial operation as shock absorber for NSW grid’. 3) On 5th August TransGrid wrote ‘Transgrid specialists deliver Australian-first control system to support Waratah Super Battery Project’. It was also picked up in the media, including the following: 1) On 4th August on RenewEconomy, Giles Parkinson wrote ‘Australia’s most powerful battery is now officially operating as the grid’s biggest shock absorber’., which noted a number of things, including: ‘The SIPS scheme requires the Waratah battery to make available up to 700 MW and 1,400 MWh at various times, and less capacity at others, depending on the season and the time of day. Initially, it will deliver half of that contract size until it completes its commissioning process, expected before the end of the year. The original timeline for the project was for it to be delivered in full by May, although that timeline was allowed to slip after the decision by the NSW to underwrite a two-year extension to the Eraring coal generator, that is now expected to close in 2027, although it may stay open longer.’ 2) On 5th August via the ABC, Sarah Forster wrote ‘Waratah Super Battery connected to NSW power grid and switched on’. 3) Of course, I noted it here in August. … and elsewhere |
Once again … if readers see I have missed (or misunderstood) significant event(s), please feel free to add comments … and note that I might return later, to add in more details (as a useful future source of linkages about the Waratah BESS).
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