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The section pages show what is current in each part of the beat. This page lists everything we have published, so a story stays findable after it stops being news.
Market + rules
The incentive that made transmission companies mind the wholesale price has been suspended, and the replacement is not due until late 2026
Version 6 of the AER's service target scheme suspends the Market Impact Component. A working group is looking for a replacement and reports by late 2026, which is the same window in which the Hunter connects its REZ, its batteries and its interconnectors.
5 August 2026
Market + rules
The five-year decision on what Transgrid can charge has started. Three parties made a submission
The AER published its Framework and Approach on 31 July, opening the determination that sets Transgrid's allowed revenue from July 2028 to June 2033. The first consultation drew no submissions at all. The second drew three, one of them from Transgrid.
4 August 2026
Local data
A full year of Hunter home batteries: 10,942 systems, and why June looks like a crash and is not
The first complete year of the federal home-battery scheme in the Hunter: 10,942 systems and 282,500 kWh across 29 postcodes. Comparing the Regulator's June workbook against its May one turns the reporting-lag warning into a measurement: the newest month undercounts by 78 per cent and takes about three months to settle.
3 August 2026
Networks + transmission
The Hunter Transmission Project has one of its two approvals. Construction still waits on Canberra
NSW has granted planning approval for the 110 km, 500 kV Hunter Transmission Project. Our ladder said it needed two ministers; this is the first. EnergyCo's own release says construction, expected to start late 2026, remains subject to Commonwealth approval. Affected private properties fell from around 70 to fewer than 20 after community feedback.
31 July 2026
Generation + projects
A 750 MW power station is burning diesel overnight at Kurri Kurri. That is what final commissioning looks like.
Snowy Hydro says final commissioning of Kurri Kurri Power Station began on or after 16 July 2026: back-up diesel testing, overnight, one generator at a time, for about four weeks, with a visible plume and odour. Its own page also says the impacts of recent testing are under investigation. The licence caps the station at 1,100 hours a year, and it is commissioning into the weakest quarter for gas generation since 1999.
28 July 2026
Local data
Bayswater and Eraring are running less, not breaking down more
AEMO's station-level data shows the Hunter's coal plants with rising availability but falling utilisation. Updated with Q2 2026: NSW black-coal output fell 4.1 per cent while availability rose 12 per cent, and utilisation fell at every NSW station. The numbers, from AEMO's own tables, with methodology.
18 July 2026
Local data
Eleven months, 10,072 home batteries: the Hunter’s install data, postcode by postcode
Clean Energy Regulator postcode data shows 10,072 home batteries installed across Hunter postcodes in the scheme's first eleven months, on top of 97,168 rooftop solar systems since 2001. Maitland's 2320 leads both counts. The monthly series and postcode table, charted from the Regulator's own workbooks, with the 12-month reporting-lag caveat explained.
18 July 2026
Generation + projects
The Eraring battery has quietly become a four-stage, 3,160 megawatt hour build
Origin's own stage table shows the Eraring battery growing from the 700 MW / 2,800 MWh project first assessed in 2022 to 700 MW / 3,160 MWh across four stages: the megawatts stayed put and the hours deepened. Battery 1 is complete and operating; Battery 2 targets Q1 2027. The full table, charted and dated, with sources.
18 July 2026
Generation + projects
Liddell’s stacks are down, and the battery replacing them is due about now
AGL demolished Liddell Power Station's 169-metre chimney stacks on 26 May 2026, and its $750 million, 500 MW Liddell Battery finished construction with full commercial operations expected by July 2026, a date that has moved across AGL's own statements from early 2026 to June to July. What AGL says is happening on the site, fully sourced.
18 July 2026
Generation + projects
Two offers in four days: Origin puts a $150 million number on Eraring’s coal
Origin says it offered Centennial Coal a 12-month and then a three-year contract for Myuna Colliery's coal at existing terms, and says Centennial's pricing demand is about $50 million a year above market. Myuna supplies all of Eraring's coal, the plant closes in April 2029, and the federal jobs authority has since asked the Fair Work Commission to cover both companies' workers. Every claim linked to its source.
18 July 2026
Market + rules
AEMO’s paperwork carries two Eraring closure dates. Its modelling is calmer than the talk
AEMO's 2025 reliability outlook still models Eraring closing in August 2027; its 2026 Integrated System Plan uses Origin's April 2029. Read side by side, with the dates attributed, the striking finding survives both: AEMO's own modelling forecasts no NSW capacity gap at Eraring's exit. The forecast NSW gap arrives 2033-34, triggered by Bayswater and Vales Point retiring. Documents linked and dated.
18 July 2026
Networks + transmission
Four transmission projects will shape the Hunter grid’s next decade. Exactly one is committed
AEMO's 2026 Integrated System Plan sorts the Hunter's transmission pipeline onto a status ladder: the Hunter-Central Coast REZ network project is committed for 2028, the 110 km Hunter Transmission Project is actionable for 2029 and needs two ministers' approval, a 692 km New England link through Bayswater is anticipated for 2034, and a $327-636 million expansion toward the Tomago smelter is still an option. Each rung, dated, costed and sourced.
18 July 2026
Networks + transmission
Stage 1 of the Hunter’s renewable energy zone network is finished. Here is what was actually built
EnergyCo says the first stage of the Ausgrid-delivered Hunter-Central Coast REZ network upgrade is complete: fibre-optic communications linking three Upper Hunter switching stations, 350 MW of the eventual 1 GW by 2028. What was built, the verified 590 and 220 jobs figures, and the 40 GW of commercial interest queued behind 1 GW of capacity. Fully sourced.
18 July 2026