en.Wedoany.com Reported - Akaysha Energy has confirmed that its Waratah Super Battery battery energy storage system in New South Wales, Australia, is currently operating at an installed capacity of 700MW with an energy storage capacity of 1,680MWh. This progress follows the successful restoration of the HVT 2 transformer, as confirmed by the company in a market update briefing released on June 4.

The 700MW output represents 82% of the Waratah Super Battery's total installed capacity of 850MW, while the energy storage capacity has reached its full 1,680MWh.

Of the currently available 700MW, 350MW continues to be used for the System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) services contracted with transmission operator Transgrid, with the remaining 350MW providing commercial power services to the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). This arrangement allows the project to participate in the wholesale electricity market and ancillary services market during ongoing commissioning.

Akaysha Energy confirmed that the SIPS service requirements can only be met after the replacement of the HVT 3 transformer, which suffered a catastrophic failure, is completed and operational. The HVT 3 transformer experienced a severe fault in October 2025, and its replacement, manufactured by Wilson Transformer Company, remains on schedule for delivery to the site in the third quarter of 2026, with full 850MW capacity expected by the end of the year.

The restoration of the HVT 2 transformer ends the most prolonged issue phase in the project's commissioning process. In November 2025, the HVT 3 transformer suffered a catastrophic internal fault, causing winding damage and an overvoltage incident, completely destroying it just hours before the next commissioning milestone was to be completed. Meanwhile, the HVT 2 transformer was taken offline as a precautionary measure, leaving the project operating at 350MW with only one transformer, barely meeting temporary SIPS requirements.

In February 2026, following a design review involving Wilson Transformer Company and independent consultants, instructions were given to Australian United Power Project Company to proceed with replacing the HVT 3 transformer. Using a transformer from an Australian manufacturer was deemed to enable rapid engineering coordination, robust on-site support, and swift mobilization of manufacturing resources. The repair of the HVT 2 transformer, carried out as a separate engineering program, has now been completed, ahead of the delivery timeline for the HVT 3 transformer.

Restoring the Waratah Super Battery's output to 700MW has a direct impact on Akaysha Energy's revenue. Under the SIPS arrangement, Akaysha Energy has a contract with Transgrid requiring the Waratah Super Battery to guarantee 700MW of output and 1,400MWh of energy storage capacity. The contract includes mechanisms to adjust payments based on the actual SIPS services provided, subject to an annual adjustment process by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). Operating at 350MW for most of the commissioning period means Akaysha Energy has received only about half of the expected contract revenue.

The additional release of 350MW capacity into the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) on a commercial basis allows the project to participate in wholesale electricity price spread arbitrage and ancillary services markets. As the scale of battery storage system operations expands, wholesale revenue for battery storage systems in the NEM service area has grown significantly. The 250MW Swanbank battery storage system operated by CleanCo Queensland earned AUD 743,000 in single-month dispatch revenue; in May 2026, as operational battery storage systems stored excess midday solar power at a larger scale, the average two-hour intraday price spread in the NEM service area fell below AUD 106/MWh.

This milestone for the Waratah Super Battery comes amid ongoing expansion of Akaysha Energy's overall portfolio. Reports indicate that BlackRock is considering raising several hundred million dollars for Akaysha Energy at a valuation exceeding USD 1 billion.

The final step for Akaysha Energy to achieve full 850MW operation is the delivery and installation of the HVT 3 transformer. Once operational, the project will provide 700MW of SIPS services to Transgrid, with the additional 150MW of installed capacity beyond that threshold available for the commercial market.

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