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Agenda

8:00AM - 9:00AM

Registration & Morning Coffee

Type: Networking
9:10AM - 10:00AM

Balancing Commercial Returns with Operational Reality - Energy Trading & Revenues

Type: Panel Discussion
  • How do Australian operators decide when to prioritise battery degradation management versus capturing high-value FCAS and energy arbitrage opportunities, particularly during extreme pricing events that can reach $16,600/MWh?
  • What does absorbing merchant risk mean for Australian BESS operators in a market with volatile renewable penetration, and how do you manage exposure to negative pricing events while maintaining 24-hour availability commitments?
  • How do operators communicate real-time asset health constraints and cycling limitations to trading desks without compromising revenue opportunities in Australia's fast-moving ancillary services markets?
  • What operational indicators do Australian BESS operators rely on to detect performance degradation before it impacts FCAS compliance or energy market participation, and where do current monitoring systems fall short?
  • Why do revenue forecasts often miss the mark in Australia's evolving energy landscape, and what operational realities around battery performance, grid constraints, and market rule changes are causing the biggest gaps between financial models and actual returns?
10:00AM - 10:50AM

What Australia's Biggest Batteries Are Teaching Asset Managers

Type: Keynote Panel Discussion
  • Which procurement structures: warranties, data access rights, LTSA terms, augmentation obligations, are proving easiest (and hardest) to work with post-COD, and what does best practice now look like?
  • How are leading teams closing the gap between finance and technical modelling to build more accurate, resilient BESS P&Ls?
  • What should Australian investors know about day-to-day battery operating costs to make smarter, more confident decisions, and how is the industry getting better at communicating this?
  • As BESS assets increasingly change hands, what does excellent technical due diligence look like, and how are buyers getting sharper at assessing degradation and maintenance?
  • Drawing on Australia's operational fleet experience, what are the top three insights today's asset managers would pass on to developers to set the next wave of projects up for success?

10:50AM - 11:30AM

Networking Break

Type: Keynote Address
11:50AM - 12:10PM

Revenue Modelling and Route-to-Market Optimisation

Type: Keynote Address

12:10PM - 1:00PM

Proving Grid-Forming Inverters for System Strength

Type: Panel Discussion
  • How does the 38% cost increase in synchronous condenser delivery change the economic case for grid-forming battery storage in Australia?
  • How do grid-forming inverters need to perform to meet minimum system strength requirements, not just the efficient level?
  • Who decides whether grid-forming BESS is technically credible enough to replace synchronous machines, and what evidence are they looking for?
  • How are early grid-forming projects informing commissioning and operational practice for the assets coming next?
  • Who bears the cost and risk if grid-forming batteries can't be validated in time to offset delayed condenser delivery?

12:10PM - 1:30PM

Lunch Break + Networking

Type: Networking
2:30PM - 2:50PM

Banking BESS: Pricing in Investment Risk with Confidence, not Guesswork

Type: Keynote Address
BESS returns are only as good as the assumption that assets perform the way contracts and warranties promise. ACCURE's independent monitoring across more than 50 projects, over 10 GWh of capacity and 7.5 million readings, shows they often don't: sites running below contracted availability, delivering less energy than capacity tests implied, and running on thinner margin over nameplate than most financial models assume. Alan Coller, Head of APAC and MEA at ACCURE Battery Intelligence, unpacks what these gaps mean for lenders and investors backing BESS assets in Australia and across the region, and how clearer visibility into real performance translates into sharper risk pricing and more predictable returns.

Sponsor

2:50PM - 3:10PM

Superior Event Value Capture: How Stochastic Optimisation Outperformed Australia's Leading Storage Assets

Type: Case Study
Price spikes and volatility events drive a material portion of BESS revenues in the NEM. The critical question: why do some assets capture significantly more value during these events than others? PortfolioEnergy reveals how stochastic mathematical optimisation delivers substantial outperformance over comparable utility-scale assets across the NEM. Using real AEMO data from live shadow trading, this session explores the strategic principles behind superior event capture: optimal state-of-charge positioning for price spikes that may or may not materialise, and allocating volumes into price bands such that clearing value across multiple scenarios is maximised. The result: market-leading annualised revenues driven by consistently extracting more value from high-volatility events. Unlike human intervention, stochastic optimisation removes subjectivity and consistently maximises expected value across thousands of dispatch decisions. Attendees will gain actionable insights into the algorithmic approach that becomes the key differentiator as markets mature — without compromising proprietary methodology.

Sponsor

3:10PM - 3:45PM

Afternoon Tea + Networking Break

Type: Networking
3:45PM - 4:30PM

Warranties, Insurance and Contracting: Building Resilient BESS Portfolios 101

Type: Fireside Chat
  • How do warranties interact with battery performance and operation, and what does good practice look like?
  • What opportunities exist to standardise warranty processes for smoother, more predictable asset operation?
  • How are OEM warranty frameworks shaping best-practice asset management?
  • Why does insurance matter for BESS assets, and what coverage options and innovations are emerging in the market?
  • As an asset manager, what does strong contract execution and stakeholder alignment look like across all parties?

4:30PM - 5:15PM

Mitigating the Worst-Case Scenario: How are Developers Navigating Safety Measures?

Type: Panel Discussion
  • How can risks be mitigated, and what is the vital consideration with your battery?
  • How can you look after your battery once it’s been installed?
  • How should you consider site security and site protection?
  • How are safe systems of work being implemented to ensure those on the ground are protected from risks?
  • How are developers navigating stringent safety measures?
5:15PM - 6:15PM

Networking Drinks

Type: Networking
8:00AM - 9:00AM

Registration & Morning Coffee

Type: Networking
9:00AM - 9:05AM

Opening Remarks from Solar Media

Type: Opening Remarks
9:05AM - 9:10AM

Welcome from the Chair

Type: Opening Remarks
9:10AM - 10:00AM

From Development to Decommissioning: Design, Operations, End-of-Life

Type: Keynote Panel Discussion
  • What does managing a battery asset for 15+ years actually mean in Australia's evolving regulatory environment, and what critical knowledge gaps still exist around long-term degradation patterns, cycling impacts, and performance optimisation in our climate conditions?
  • How do Australian asset owners reconcile the developer-operator mindset shift, where the skills and incentives that drove rapid BESS deployment don't align with the operational discipline needed for sustained NEM participation and AEMO compliance over decades?
  • What proactive lifecycle strategies should Australian BESS owners implement from day one to factor in future decommissioning costs, second-life applications, and potential retrofitting opportunities while maintaining current revenue streams and availability guarantees?
  • How are emerging demand drivers like recycling, data centres and hyperscale deployments reshaping Australia's BESS procurement and operational strategies, and what does rapid deployment at scale mean for long-term asset management practices?
  • What cycling strategies and state-of-charge management protocols are Australian operators implementing to balance immediate FCAS and energy market participation against preserving asset health for 15+ year operational horizons, and where do current approaches fall short?
10:00AM - 10:50AM

Hybrid Solar-Plus-Storage in Australia: Navigating Design, Operations, and Economic Optimisation

Type: Keynote Panel Discussion
  • AC-coupled versus DC-coupled architectures: What are the trade-offs for Australian hybrid projects when considering interconnection costs?
  • How can Australian developers design battery systems with co-location in mind from the outset to streamline commissioning processes, optimise shared infrastructure costs, and unlock additional economic incentives?
  • What are the practical challenges of managing different design lives when pairing 25-year solar assets with 15-year battery systems?
  • How do Australian hybrid plants deliver the predictable performance and fast responsiveness that AEMO expects while coordinating reactive power management, ramp-rate control, and advanced grid services across multiple generation and storage technologies behind a single connection point?
  • What role will Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) play in Australia's hybrid project pipeline, and how are developers evaluating LDES technologies against traditional lithium-ion systems?

10:50AM - 11:20AM

Morning Tea + Networking Break

Type: Networking
11:40AM - 12:30PM

Attracting Overseas Investment for Australian BESS

Type: Fireside Chat
  • What revenue architecture are international investors actually underwriting?
  • Are foreign capital sources prioritising contracted PPA structures over merchant arbitrage opportunities?
  • How do different investor types (pension funds vs infrastructure funds vs trading houses) evaluate BESS revenue diversity across frequency regulation, energy arbitrage, and capacity markets?
  • Can structured capacity arrangements provide the revenue certainty that allows international investors to deploy larger ticket sizes into Australian BESS, and what operational flexibility do asset owners sacrifice in these structures?
  • How are international lenders and equity investors pricing the volatility of Australian spot market arbitrage, and what hedging or revenue floor mechanisms make merchant BESS assets investable for risk-averse foreign capital?
  • What liquidity mechanisms and portfolio aggregation strategies allow foreign investors to scale their Australian BESS exposure while maintaining the operational control needed for optimal dispatch and revenue maximisation?
  • Can geopolitical flight capital accelerate revenue growth?
12:50PM - 2:00PM

Lunch Break + Networking

Type: Networking
2:00PM - 2:45PM

Operating Batteries in Australia’s Harsh and Vast Climates

Type: Panel Discussion
  • How do extreme weather events amplify cyber vulnerabilities in BESS operations?
  • What happens when cyber incidents coincide with grid stress events?
  • How are insurance policies responding to the convergence of physical and cyber risk?
  • Are compliance frameworks adequate for Australia's operating environment?
  • What does operational cyber resilience look like during physical stress events?
2:45PM - 3:45PM

Inside Australia's Battery M&A Gold Rush

Type: Panel Discussion
  • Who is driving the surge of capital into Australian battery storage assets, and why now?
  • How are acquirers structuring and de-risking multi-hundred-million-dollar battery portfolio deals?
  • How does the market price development-stage capacity against operating assets in a single transaction?
  • Who wins as the market consolidates around larger platform players rather than single-asset trades?
  • Who are the likely buyers and sellers in the next wave of Australian battery M&A?
3:30PM - 3:35PM

Close of Summit