Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has brought the second stage of its Supernode battery energy storage system into commercial operation, vaulting the Queensland facility to 520 MW and 1,858 MWh of total capacity and establishing it as the largest operational battery in Australia's National Electricity Market.

A New Benchmark for Australian Grid-Scale Storage

The completion of Stage 2 construction and the subsequent commencement of commercial operations marks a significant threshold for battery energy storage deployment across the NEM. With both stages now fully operational, the Supernode project surpasses any previously operating battery installation on Australia's main interconnected grid, which spans Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania.

Stage-by-Stage Buildout

The facility reached its current scale through a phased development approach, with Stage 2 representing the addition of capacity that brought the system to its combined 520 MW power rating and 1,858 MWh energy storage volume. Queensland served as the project's host state, and the progression from Stage 1 through to full Stage 2 output reflects a construction and commissioning timeline that Quinbrook has now concluded with the commercial operations milestone.

Implications for the NEM

Grid-scale battery installations have become an increasingly prominent feature of Australia's energy transition, providing rapid-response services that support system stability as the share of variable renewable generation grows across the NEM. A facility of Supernode's scale is positioned to participate in frequency control ancillary services, wholesale energy arbitrage, and other market mechanisms available to large storage assets within the market operated by the Australian Energy Market Operator. The project's status as the largest operational battery on the NEM underscores the pace at which storage capacity is scaling in the region, with individual projects now reaching power and energy ratings that would have been considered exceptional only a few years prior.

Quinbrook's achievement with Supernode adds to a growing list of multi-hundred-megawatt battery projects that have either reached or are approaching operation across Australia, reflecting both falling battery technology costs and policy signals that have encouraged investment in dispatchable, grid-connected storage assets.