Australia’s networks are connecting clean energy faster than ever. This series tracks what’s working, what’s next, and the data behind both. 

Every rooftop panel, home battery, EV charger and wind farm has one thing in common: before it can do its job, a network has to connect it. Right now, networks are doing that at a scale Australia has never seen. 

Yet one claim keeps coming up: that networks are what’s slowing the energy transition down. It deserves an answer built on evidence. 

This is the first post in a series on connections. We’ll set out where things stand, how delays occur, and what would speed things up. We’ll add more data throughout each part. 

Where we’re at: current numbers 

Every type of connection is at or near record levels, from rooftop solar to grid-scale projects. And while doing all this, distribution networks have kept power on more than 99.97 per cent as seen in the last major network analysis for 2024-2025. (AER, Network performance report 2026)

Large-scale projects including Commercial and Industrial (C&I) 

A record 9.1 GW of new generation and storage reached full output in the National Electricity Market in 2025–26, up from about 4.4 GW in 2024–25.(AEMO Connections Scorecard, June 2026) Batteries led the mix. 

The pipeline behind it is bigger still. By the end of September, 80.9 GW of projects were working through the connection process, more than the NEM’s entire current capacity of 77 GW. But 88 per cent of that pipeline sits in early application or developer-led stages, before networks can build anything (AEMO Connections Scorecard, September 2026). 

Commercial and industrial connections are a small share of the total. On Ausgrid’s network they make up fewer than 3 per cent of connections, and most connections on that network are completed within 60 days. 

ENA welcomed the federal government’s move to unlock the ‘missing middle’ of commercial and industrial rooftop solar. It echoes our call in The Time is Now report for stronger incentives for businesses to put solar on existing roofs, and networks look forward to working with the Department and AEMC on faster connections and clearer requirements. 

C&I connection times 

Firm delivery dates should be a shared responsibility. Networks are flooded with requests for projects that may never go ahead, and firm, funded commitments from proponents are the best way to clear speculative load from the queue and get committed projects planned and completed faster.  

Our members’ interest is simple: connect all customers quickly, efficiently and fairly.  Energy networks are heavily regulated, and we take our obligations seriously.  

Networks should be accountable for what we control: assessing applications, designing and building network, and energising the connection. What networks don’t control includes council approvals, finding land, and global supply chain delays for large, long lead time equipment arriving from overseas and community backlash.   

Data centres are the newest wave. At the end of September, 22 proposed data centres totalling 10.1 GW of maximum load were working through transmission connection, up from 11 projects and 5.4 GW just six months earlier (AEMO Quarterly Energy Dynamics Q3 2026). More are seeking to connect to distribution networks. 

Reform is already underway. The AEMC is assessing rule changes on cost recovery for network augmentations driven by large loads, the AER is reviewing its distribution connection charge guidelines, and the AEMC’s Electricity Network Regulation Review is considering how the risks of uncertain demand growth, including from large new loads such as data centres, are managed.  

How connection times vary for C&I 

Connecting a project is a relay and networks hold the baton for only part of it. 

Blaming networks for the whole timeline is like blaming the electrician because the house took two years to build. The electrician is one part of a much longer process. 

That doesn’t mean the system is perfect. Some projects hit unexpected technical problems, and some applications take longer than they should. Those cases deserve to be fixed. If your project is stuck, talk to your network’s connection manager. They want to help. 

But hard cases are rare. For example: CitiPower, Powercor and United Energy received just 34 complaints across 95,000 connections in the past year, fewer than one in 2,700. 

A few dozen complaints against a record year of successful connections is not a trend, and it shouldn’t define an industry. 

Rooftop solar 

Networks connected 254,664 rooftop solar systems in 2025, adding more than 2.6 GW of capacity. That’s about 1,000 every working day (Clean Energy Council). 

Around 4.3 million Australian households now have rooftop solar, and Australia leads the world in household solar per person (ABS). 

For most homes, approval is now automatic. Endeavour Energy has auto-approved almost 50,000 residential applications so far this year thanks to their self-service Connections Portal. Applications for solar and battery systems up to 30kW are automatically assessed and approved through the online portal, providing customers with a fast and efficient connection pathway.  

Home batteries 

Home batteries are being connected at record pace. As at 14 August 2026, 507,651 had been installed under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program since it began on 1 July 2025 (Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Change and Energy). 

That’s half a million in about 13 months. In 2025 alone, around 268,000 home batteries were sold, taking the national total from about 186,000 to about 454,000 in a single year (Clean Energy Council). 

The government says Australia is now installing more home battery capacity than any other country (Minister for Climate Change and Energy). Every one of those batteries connects to the local grid.

Electric vehicles and charging 

EVs made up one in four new car sales in the first half of 2026. Australians bought 157,957 EVs in those six months, and the national fleet reached about 612,000 by June (Electric Vehicle Council). 

Charging infrastructure installation is happening but Australia needs more to keep up with demand and give consumers better charging choices. Australia had 4,268 public charging locations and 11,602 public connectors by June 2026, up 235 per cent and 175 per cent in a year. 

The pace of EV uptake and the pace of public charging rollout have different drivers. Households choose the car they buy. Public chargers are built only when an operator decides the investment stacks up.  

That is why public charger numbers can fall behind EV sales. This matters because charging access is one of the biggest barriers for would-be EV buyers, and without enough public charging the benefits of EVs stay out of reach for people who can’t charge at home. This is a question of pace, investment, and equity of access, not of how quickly connections can be made. 

ENA’s rule change proposal, now being considered by the AEMC, would allow networks to play a role in supporting ongoing EV charging deployment and install kerbside chargers on existing poles, with every proposal scrutinised by the regulator.

What’s changing, and what would help most 

Networks are making it easier to connect before an application even lands, including through better visibility of network capacity and improving network hosting capacity.  

Examples of positive developments in this space include: 

• Ausgrid will soon launch a portal giving applicants for systems up to 200 kilowatts an outcome within 20 seconds.
• Capacity maps show developers where there’s room on the grid before they apply.
• Flexible exports let more solar onto the grid by adjusting output when the network is busy.

Networks are committed to C&I: community batteries, local solar farms, commercial rooftops and fleet charging hubs. They can be built in months, right where energy is used.  

In 2024, ENA’s The Time Is Now report found better use of the distribution grid could deliver $7 billion a year in consumer benefits by 2030, or about $160 per customer. 

Two things would make the biggest difference: 

1. Allow networks a longer planning horizon for shared upgrades, so capacity arrives in time to meet growing demand in a rapidly transitioning energy system. The rules generally require networks to prove capacity is needed before investing, so it arrives ‘just in time’ for the projects that need it. With the current pace of change, just in time can be just too late. Targeted investment in the shared network where the pipeline is clear would fix that.
2. Talk to your network early, use its online tools/resources and capacity maps, and hire an experienced service provider who knows the grid and knows the process. Well-prepared applications move faster, and that can make all the difference.

Coming up in this series 

We’ll publish more data as it becomes available, including: 

• Insights into connection costs across networks
• How many applications arrive incomplete, and how much time that adds
• Connection times for commercial and industrial projects across more networks
• Progress on connection reforms

Sources 

• Clean Energy Council, Rooftop Solar and Storage Report, July to December 2025 
• Clean Energy Council, Rooftop Solar and Storage Report, January to June 2025 
• Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Change and Energy, press conference transcript, Castle Hill, 14 August 2026 
• Minister for Climate Change and Energy, joint media release, 14 August 2026 
• Minister for Climate Change and Energy, media release, 5 August 2026 
• Australian Energy Regulator, Network performance report 2026 
• Energy Networks Australia and L.E.K. Consulting, The Time Is Now, August 2024 
• Clean Energy Regulator, small-scale installation data (2015 baseline) 
• Australian Bureau of Statistics, Household solar electricity generation in the Australian national accounts, December 2025 
• Electric Vehicle Council, State of EVs 2026 media release, 30 September 2026 
• AEMO, NEM Connections Scorecard, June 2026 
• AEMO, NEM Connections Scorecard, September 2026 (published 21 October 2026) 
• AEMO, Quarterly Energy Dynamics Q3 2026, October 2026