Tuesday, 8 September 2026

Curtailed generation from utility-scale solar in Australia's National Electricity Market fell to 168 GWh in August 2026, roughly 9% of available generation, down from 284 GWh a year earlier, when about 18% was cut, according to RenewEconomy.

David Dixon, lead analyst at Rystad Energy, attributed the drop to a growing number of big and small batteries, alongside a somewhat subdued contribution from wind, which together kept solar electrons from going to waste.

The fall in curtailment came as output climbed. Large-scale solar generation set an August record in three of the major NEM states, with New South Wales delivering 684 GWh, RenewEconomy reported.

The pairing matters because curtailment is the operator's blunt instrument when midday solar exceeds what the grid and demand can absorb. Storage changes that arithmetic: charging batteries during the solar peak shifts the surplus rather than discarding it. On the year-on-year comparison, the share of available utility-scale PV generation lost to curtailment halved.

Wind's weaker showing over the month also left more room in the merit order for solar to run, according to Dixon's assessment.

Lead times for high-voltage bushings have stretched to two years, according to Power Magazine, as 765-kV transmission expansion and data center load collide with a constrained equipment supply base.

Bahadir Basdere, chief executive of Trench Group, set out where high-voltage equipment supply is under the most pressure amid that 765-kV expansion and data center demand, Power Magazine reported.

The competition for components is not confined to one buyer class. Utilities, transmission developers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and hyperscalers are all bidding for the same high-voltage grid hardware, according to Power Magazine.

Bushings sit at the interface between transformer windings and the outside world, and a two-year wait on that single component can gate the energization date of an entire substation. With hyperscalers now queuing alongside transmission developers for the same parts, the ordering backlog reflects demand from data centers as well as the 765-kV buildout.

Risk assessment firm Centrii has calculated a 92% probability of a major coordinated cyberattack on battery energy storage system (BESS) infrastructure by 2031 if operators stay on current operational baseline standards, according to ESS News.

The figure comes from 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations run across multiple industry security postures, ESS News reported.

Centrii's central threat case, which the firm labels Gridlock, is defined as a coordinated cyber-physical attack in which adversaries compromise multiple BESS units and orchestrate synchronized charge and discharge cycles to destabilize grid frequency. The mechanism turns storage assets built to stabilize frequency into the instrument that breaks it.

The remediation price tag is the other half of the argument. Centrii notes that implementing the IEC 62443 industrial control system security standard across 28 GW of ERCOT storage would require an estimated USD 800 million to USD 2.8 billion, per ESS News. That spread of more than three times between the low and high estimate tracks how much hardening work operators would need beyond baseline controls.

The cost band is set against a specific asset base rather than a national aggregate, which makes it a usable benchmark for any operator weighing per-GW security spend against the modeled attack probability.

Construction of battery energy storage systems has started in North Macedonia this year, according to analysis by the Macedonian solar energy association Solar Macedonia cited by ESS News.

The country's 2026 annual energy construction plan cleared 96 storage facilities with a combined 2.2 GW/4.9 GWh, ESS News reported. That total splits into 77 systems integrated with new or existing plans and 19 standalone units.

Storage sits alongside a far larger solar pipeline approved under the same plan. In February, the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources signed off on 59 solar projects with a combined capacity above 3 GW, according to ESS News. Statistics from earlier in the year put installed solar capacity in the country above 1 GW.

Among the projects moving into delivery, PowerChina was selected to implement a 30 MW solar scheme for state-owned utility Elektrani na Severna Makedonija, ESS News reported. The award came through a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development tender administered in late 2024.

That project is divided between two thermal power plant sites. A 10 MW installation goes on an exhausted coal mine belonging to the Oslomej thermal power plant, and a 20 MW array is planned near the Bitola thermal power plant.

The 4.9 GWh of approved storage energy capacity gives roughly two hours of duration at the approved 2.2 GW of power, against a solar approval volume above 3 GW and an installed solar base above 1 GW.

EnergyPathways has selected Jacobs to handle planning, regulatory, consenting and environmental services for its proposed long-duration energy storage project in the Irish Sea and Barrow-in-Furness, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The scheme, known as MESH, is positioned to become the UK's largest long-duration energy storage (LDES) project at 300 MW, 55 GWh and 100-plus hours of duration, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

MESH has been designated a project of national significance by the UK Government.

Jacobs will also assist EnergyPathways with its submission to Ofgem's forthcoming Long Duration Energy Storage Cap and Floor round, per the same report. The mandate ties the engineering appointment directly to the regulatory route the project must clear.

EnergyPathways describes itself as an energy transition company. The consenting scope covers both the offshore element in the Irish Sea and the onshore footprint at Barrow-in-Furness.

The duration figure is the distinguishing number. At more than 100 hours, MESH sits far beyond the discharge windows typical of lithium-ion battery installations, and the 55 GWh energy capacity against 300 MW of power output is what produces that ratio.

UK regulator Ofgem found that the reform of Great Britain's grid connections queue missed deadlines and was marred by inaccurate connection offers, poor developer engagement and digitalization problems, according to pv magazine.

The same review credited the system operator with cutting back an oversubscribed queue. According to pv magazine, NESO cleared 153 GW of battery energy storage system capacity from that queue.

NESO was formed in October 2024, when the British government acquired the electricity system operator from National Grid plc, pv magazine reported.