Batteries Cut Australia's Evening Gas Use by 67% as California Avoids Rolling Outages Since 2020

EnergyEdge, an Australian consultancy, found that gas generation during the busy early evening fell by 67% in the year to August as large-scale batteries came online and half a million home batteries were installed under a government subsidy program, The Guardian reported. The analysis said batteries met 49% of the grid's dispatchable power needs during the evening in August 2026, up from 0.4% in 2020. Gas fell from 65.9% to 20.6% over the same period.

EnergyEdge managing director Josh Stabler said batteries large and small recorded their highest peak output on record. 'The rate of installation of batteries in Australia is the fastest uptake of any electricity asset ever – faster than solar, faster than wind,' he said. The EnergyEdge report concluded: 'batteries have taken the evening peak, and they're not giving it back.'

Wholesale electricity prices fell as a result, which benefits households but may complicate future investment in new dispatchable power. Recent quarterly data from the Australian Energy Market Operator, covering April to June, showed gas generation recorded its lowest second-quarter average in more than two decades. AEMO said gas power declined in all regions, with the fall most evident during the evening peak.

Alison Reeve, energy and climate change program director at the Grattan Institute, said utility-scale batteries were increasingly absorbing surplus renewable energy during the middle of the day and displacing gas during the peak. 'Overall, this is super good news. What you actually end up doing is flattening out the load curve over the day,' she said, adding that this reduced volatility in the system. She said lower gas demand and less volatility should be good for prices in the longer term, but declining demand and added uncertainty could make gas more expensive and less profitable when it is needed during dark, still and cold winter weeks.

AEMO's 20-year roadmap, the Integrated System Plan, anticipates gas will play 'a more strategic, back-up role, with flexible generators that can also provide system security service.' The plan says this is more likely in winter, especially in southern states, when shorter days reduce solar output and longer, colder nights require more electricity. 'Gas is going through a transition and its whole role is going to change,' Reeve said. She said the shift would affect the amount of gas needed, the number of generators and running costs, and that managing the process early would help avoid costs for consumers.

In California, Slashdot, citing the Los Angeles Times, reported that residents made it through the hottest August on record without rolling power outages. The state has not implemented rotating power outages since 2020. During the August 2020 heat wave, the California Independent System Operator declared a Stage 3 emergency and hundreds of thousands of households lost power. At that time, the system had less than 100 megawatts of battery storage available, according to system spokesperson Jayme Ackemann. Today it has more than 17,000 megawatts.

Ackemann said the system aims to add 20,000 to 25,000 megawatts of battery storage capacity by 2045, the same year it has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality. California has steadily increased the share of electricity generated by renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower. More rooftop solar panels have also added power. In May, California became the first known large-scale power system in the world to rely on more than 50% solar power for an entire month, according to the report. The state's grid is integrated with electrical systems across much of the Western United States, allowing energy from cooler areas such as the Pacific Northwest to be imported during extreme heat in Southern California. The report said Long Beach and Anaheim reached 107 degrees and Escondido hit 112 degrees.