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Dan Nugent, Trading and Transition Executive, EnergyAustralia
February 2026
On 13 February 2026, I stood on Ngadjuri Country celebrating the financial close for the Hallett Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). It felt like more than just a project milestone and a marker of where Australia’s energy future is heading.
Past and future collide
Hallett gas-fired power station has been part of South Australia’s energy system for nearly 27 years, reliably covering about five per cent of the state’s peak demand. Now, right alongside it we’re building the Hallett BESS, a fastresponding gridscale battery. Located in the Goyder region, the site is transforming into a flexible energy hub. A place where our longserving gas generation and new storage technology will operate side by side.
The impossible becomes real
The grid is now operating in a way that many people once considered unimaginable.
In the last quarter of 2025, renewable energy supplied more than 50 per cent of electricity on Australia’s eastern seaboard for the first time in history, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator. And while changing seasons bring the annual average to around 44 per cent, the direction is clear. The transition is accelerating and succeeding.
In that same final quarter of 2025, gridscale batteries almost tripled their output, while wholesale power prices were more than 40 per cent lower than a year earlier. It’s evidence that renewables and storage are reshaping the economics of energy for the better.
The role of Hallett BESS
As energy generated by solar increasingly dominates the daytime, the role of storage becomes pivotal. Hallett BESS will step in precisely when it’s needed most — absorbing energy when it’s abundant and releasing it when the sun sets and demand peaks.
Once complete, its initial 50 MW/245 MWh capacity will power up to 81,000 homes and small businesses for nearly five hours during peak periods. Planning approval is already in place to triple its capacity to 200 MW with a second stage.
And because Hallett BESS shares key infrastructure and gridconnection assets with our existing gasfired power station, we’re maximising what’s already there and lowering impacts. It’s an approach we’re also following with our other battery projects, Wooreen in Victoria and Mt Piper in New South Wales.
Building with communities, not just near them
At EnergyAustralia, our best projects are created with the people who host them. Hallett is no exception. Our more than 15-year presence in South Australia’s Hallett, Burra and Jamestown communities has shaped every part of this project’s development.
Across Stages 1 and 2, Hallett BESS will create around 200 fulltime equivalent jobs during construction. And we’ll look to employ local workers and use local suppliers where we can.
We’re also delivering over $700,000 in community benefits, like grants, emergency services support, road upgrades and more.
And in partnership with Ngadjuri Nation, we’re embedding First Nations training, scholarship and employment pathways throughout delivery. We’re ensuring the energy transition creates opportunity where it matters most.
Our purpose in action
EnergyAustralia’s purpose is to lead and accelerate the clean energy transformation for all. Projects like Hallett BESS show our purpose isn’t just words on a page, but something we’re delivering now.
A glimpse of Australia’s energy future
I’m excited about the progress we’re making. Energy storage is now just as essential as generation. Home batteries are surging. Gridscale batteries are increasingly beating gas at evening peaks. The system is stronger for it — even through our record January heatwave. And at Hallett, pairing battery storage with existing gas generation gives us greater resilience.
Globally, renewable energy jobs now outnumber fossil fuel jobs, employing around 35 million people. We’re seeing people making the transition, like our own Darren Rickard who’s gone from 17 years in coal to working on EnergyAustralia’s big battery projects.
The future is being built and with the Hallett BESS we’ve just taken another step toward it.
