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| Home battery economics Across Australia, families are asking the same question: is it finally worth adding a battery to the backyard solar array? Subsidies are helping tip the balance, but the answer depends on each household’s usage, costs, and risk appetite. There are innovative options that have emerged for households with batteries. One is the option to base the electricity plan on ‘wholesale pass through’, where the household essentially pays the wholesale price for electricity used and receives the wholesale price for electricity exported to the grid. Another option is to sign up to participate in a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). A VPP manages a group of batteries as a network for energy supply. Some governments offer incentives to sign up to a VPP and electricity suppliers also pay for power used. A potential downside is that using a household battery as a VPP means that for some periods the battery will not be available to power the home. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) recently published research which found that the payback period for batteries was 7.3 years with the Australian Government subsidy, dropping to 4.3 years with wholesale-pass-through and 3.96 years with VPP participation and the NSW Government subsidy for VPPs. Such innovation will be needed as further growth in Consumer Energy Resources (CER), which includes household batteries, is a significant component in AEMO’s Integrated System Plan for decarbonising the National Electricity Market. Monthly LNG statistical summary Based on shipping data, EnergyQuest estimates that Australia exported 6.35 Mt of LNG in August 2025, totalling 92 cargoes. A busy maintenance schedule saw a decrease compared to July 2025, when Australia exported 6.63 Mt and 96 cargoes. When annualised, August’s exports represent 74.8 Mtpa, equivalent to 87% of total Australian nameplate capacity of 86.0 Mtpa EnergyQuest estimates that Australian LNG export revenue in August 2025 was $4.82 billion – lower than July’s $5.24 billion, and lower by 13.5% year-on-year from August 2024 ($5.57 billion). WA projects earned $2.83 billion in export revenue, Queensland projects earned $1.47 billion, and Northern Territory projects earned $0.52 billion. Over the past four months or so, WA shipments have been affected by scheduled maintenance: Wheatstone in late April 2025, the North West Shelf (NWS) project during May, with up to one train offline throughout May and June, and Gorgon during June and into July (with the equivalent of one train off-line). Further maintenance at NWS commenced in late August and scheduled to continue through to mid-September, with the equivalent of one LNG train expected to be off-line during this period. The Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) project had the equivalent of up to one train offline for approximately two weeks during May and into June. In June, the Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project undertook planned maintenance with up to one train offline for approximately three weeks, which carried over into the first week of July. Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) undertook scheduled maintenance during July with up to the equivalent of one train being off line for up to approximately two weeks during the month. Further, GLNG had a follow-up planned maintenance period during August, which will run through most of September with up to the equivalent of half an LNG train being offline. During August 2025, Ichthys (NT) shipped nine cargoes at 0.68 Mt, which is reflective of th plant shutting down on 16 August for planned maintenance on heat exchangers. |