Waratah Super Battery as a grid asset

An article published on 29 September by Daniel Lima treats the Waratah Super Battery, of 850 MW and 1,680 MWh in New South Wales, as a grid asset: it provides a protection scheme that lets existing lines operate closer to their thermal limit and releases transmission capacity without new construction. The case supports the thesis that the ONS is coming to recognise storage as a way to reduce Brazilian curtailment.

The ONS estimate has a narrower outline. It was given by director-general Márcio Rea on 24 September 2026, at CNN Talks Energia, in São Paulo: batteries should improve curtailment by between 40% and 50%, depending on the outcome of the battery auction. And, according to EPE's page on the 2026 Storage LRCAP, the systems in that auction start operation on 1 August 2028.

Here lies the difference that the parallel with transmission conceals. A line delivers capacity for decades and retains value throughout them. A battery performing a grid function must guarantee capacity throughout the contract, which brings cell replacement into the investment case and ties the asset to one technology generation.

The December auction sets the price; the replacement plan sets how much of the asset remains at the end of the contract.