Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by accelerating renewable energy uptake and the progressive retirement of coal-fired generation. These shifts are fundamentally reshaping the revenue landscape for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and flexible load assets—creating new opportunities that only advanced optimisation can fully capture.

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‍FCAS Revenues Now Concentrated Around High-Value Events

Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) historically accounted for around 70% of battery and load flexibility revenues. However, rising competition—especially from Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) and new battery operators now representing 65%of the Contingency FCAS market—has compressed average FCAS prices, reducing this share to approximately 40%. Despite this, targeted high-price events (>$10,000/MWh), often linked to interconnector constraints, continue to deliver outsized returns for agile assets active in Fast and Very Fast FCAS markets.

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Wholesale Arbitrage Gains Momentum

Meanwhile, wholesale market volatility has surged as renewables displace traditional baseload. FY2024 saw 122 market intervals above $5,000/MWh—nearly triple the 43 observed in FY2023—and negative pricing intervals jumped to 13,583 from 7,510in FY2022. These fluctuations have significantly enhanced arbitrage opportunities, positioning batteries as ideal tools for capturing value via fast, responsive trading strategies.

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Why Co-Optimisation is No Longer Optional

With single-market strategies leaving up to 48% of potential revenue untapped, true market co-optimisation is now essential. Aligning FCAS, arbitrage, and demand charge management into one cohesive trading strategy is the only way to fully monetise flexible energy assets. This stands in stark contrast to older or low-level optimisation techniques, which often operate on static schedules or isolated price signals, missing real-time value and limiting revenue to just a fraction of what's possible.

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PowerSync’s Advantage: Dynamic, Intelligent, and Proven

PowerSync’s advanced optimiser is built to dynamically identify and act on the highest-value opportunities across all markets, in real-time. As the first C&I aggregator in the Very Fast FCAS market, PowerSync consistently achieves 2x the revenue capture of the next best provider based on AEMO dispatch logs.

Our technology-driven, retailer-agnostic platform ensures assets perform at their peak—even in the most volatile conditions. In a market defined by change, PowerSync enables asset owners to stay ahead, unlocking every cent of value from Australia’s evolving energy system.

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