New data shows Australia’s renewable energy transition has passed a tipping point – with wind, solar and batteries now supplying half the national grid and rapidly expanding.

If the new leader of the opposition, Angus Taylor, thought there was “ too much wind and solar” on Australia’s grid back when he was federal energy minister in 2018, have we got news for him in 2026.

In just the last three months of 2025, nine wind and solar projects added 2.1 gigawatts (GW) of new electricity generating capacity to the grid, and 1 GW, 2.3 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery storage, according to the latest data from the Clean Energy Council (CEC).

The CEC’s latest quarterly report shows just how far Australia has come since 2018, when renewables  surged to 7.5 GW of total installed capacity and wind broke out of its investment drought.

According to the report, more renewables were “switched on” in the dying months of 2025 than in any other quarter on record, leaving the previous record – 1.3 GW added in third quarter of 2021 – well behind.

By the end of 2025, some 12.18 GW of renewable generation was either being built, or had reached financial commitment, the CEC data shows. For batteries, that rises to a whopping 13 GW and 34.7 GWh.

Battery installations surged in 2025 with the total capacity installed across the year – 1.9 GW and 4.9 GWh – outpacing the combined figure for the previous eight years.

“The final quarter of........

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