The newly released Nelson Review - the National Electricity Market (NEM) wholesale market settings review offers the latest thinking on where Australia’s energy market is headed. A key takeaway is that businesses can no longer remain passive consumers of electricity. With the right technology, they can seamlessly participate in the market, using their energy assets to generate revenue, reduce costs, and support a cleaner, more reliable grid.

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The Review’s central message is that the NEM’s energy-only spot market (where prices rise and fall every five minutes to balance supply and demand) remains the most efficient and effective way to operate the system. There’s no call for a shift to capacity markets, nodal pricing, or other structural overhauls. But while the market’s foundation is sound, the Review warns that change is still needed to meet the demands of a high-renewables future.

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The Untapped Potential in the Business Sector

While Consumer Energy Resource (CER) discussions often focus on rooftop solar in households, the Nelson Review recognises that the business sector represents a huge ,under-utilised resource. Manufacturing plants, data centres, water utilities, cold-store warehouses, shopping centres, and campuses all have processes and assets that can respond to market conditions without compromising operations.

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The Review highlights the potential for these sites to contribute and benefit through:

• Wholesale market participation – shifting energy use or exports to match price movements.
• Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) – delivering rapid frequency support from controllable loads or storage.
• Network support – getting paid to relieve local constraints and defer costly upgrades.
• Emergency reserves (RERT) – offering capacity in rare, high-stress system events.
• Local energy trading & VPPs – aggregating with other CER to improve scale, reliability, and returns.

Realising this potential depends on making participation simple and commercially viable. The Review calls for reforms to streamline registration, make technical requirements more cost-effective, and create clear, workable pathways for aggregators to bring diverse resources together.

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How PowerSync Delivers What the Review Envisions

At PowerSync Technologies, we specialise in turning these opportunities into reality. Our platform connects and orchestrates a wide range of business energy assets, whether batteries, HVAC systems, refrigeration, pumping, on-site generation, so they can:

• Respond automatically to wholesale price signals in real time, capturing value from volatility and avoiding cost spikes.
• Provide high-value ancillary services like FCAS where eligible.
• Integrate into network support programs and receive payment for reducing local demand.
• Participate in aggregated CER portfolios for greater scale and market access.

We handle the complexity across market registration, compliance, telemetry, integration, and settlement so businesses can focus on operations while their energy assets work harder for them.

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For the market operator, this means greater visibility and predictability from resources that were previously hidden. For our customers, it means unlocking new and ongoing revenue without having to master the NEM’s intricate rulebook.

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The Road Ahead

The Nelson Review is both a vote of confidence in the market we have and a roadmap for the challenges ahead. It makes clear that the commercial and industrial sector will play a pivotal role in ensuring the NEM remains reliable, affordable, and sustainable as the energy transition accelerates.

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The flexibility already embedded in Australian businesses is enormous and largely untapped. Unlocking it will be key to meeting the NEM’s operational challenges while delivering strong commercial returns.

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At PowerSync Technologies, we make it simple for businesses to become active market participants - turning their energy assets into visible, dispatchable, revenue-earning contributors to a cleaner, more resilient grid.

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Read more about the NEM Review here.

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