Inside the Bulabul 600MWh battery deal in NSW: how capacity swaps, AI-driven control and Indigenous equity are reshaping green energy storage finance.
Australia just secured a AU$450+ million signal that grid-scale storage is moving from experimental to essential.
The 300MW/600MWh Bulabul battery energy storage system (BESS) in New South Wales has landed a 15‑year deal with Danish trader InCommodities, using a structure that quietly rewrites how big batteries get financed and operated. For anyone following green technology, this isn’t just another project announcement. It’s a blueprint.
This matters because large batteries like Bulabul are the missing link between cheap renewables and a stable, reliable grid. And the way they’re financed, owned and digitally operated is where the real innovation lives.
In this post, I’ll break down what’s actually interesting about Bulabul, how the capacity swap model works, why tech and AI-driven trading matter more than ever, and what investors and energy users can learn from it.
Bulabul in a nutshell: 600MWh of flexible green capacity
Bulabul is a 300MW/600MWh utility-scale battery project in the Central‑West Orana Renewable Energy Zone in New South Wales, roughly 2km from Wellington. It’s being developed, owned and operated by Ampyr Australia, with Fluence providing its Gridstack storage platform.
Here’s the high-level picture:
- Total capacity: 300MW power, 600MWh energy
- Technology: Lithium-ion BESS using Fluence Gridstack
- Phasing:
- Bulabul 1 – 200MW/200MWh, under construction since August 2025, targeting first energisation in mid‑2026 and commercial operations by 2027
- Bulabul 2 – 100MW/400MWh, expected to start construction Q2 2026, also targeting operations in 2027
- Location: Central‑West Orana Renewable Energy Zone, a core node in Australia’s green superpower strategy
The split between Bulabul 1 (1‑hour storage) and Bulabul 2 (4‑hour storage) is not random. It mirrors where grid value is heading: short-duration batteries make money on fast frequency services and intraday arbitrage, while longer-duration assets capture multi‑hour price spreads as solar and wind dominate more of the generation stack.
The AU$450+ million, 15‑year agreement with InCommodities is tied to up to 120MW of the 300MW capacity. That’s a large chunk of the project’s revenue base locked in under a novel structure.
Why the capacity swap model is such a big deal
The core innovation at Bulabul isn’t just storage hardware – it’s the capacity swap agreement between Ampyr and InCommodities.
Instead of a traditional Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), where a buyer locks in fixed-price energy from a generator, Bulabul uses a structure where InCommodities gets rights to use part of the battery’s capacity, and Ampyr gets long-term revenue certainty.
How a capacity swap differs from a typical PPA
Most storage projects in Australia historically leaned on one of two models:
- Fixed revenue contracts – capacity or offtake PPAs with utilities or governments
- Pure merchant exposure – relying fully on spot markets, arbitrage and grid services
Bulabul’s approach sits between those extremes:
- Ampyr retains ownership and operational control of the BESS
- InCommodities gets access to up to 120MW of capacity
- The trader uses that capacity for:
- Energy arbitrage (buy low, sell high across hours or days)
- Frequency control and ancillary services
- Other grid support products as markets evolve
For investors, this is attractive because:
- Revenue is anchored: a significant part of the project’s capacity is backed by a 15‑year deal
- Upside remains: Ampyr still has 180MW of capacity to play in merchant markets or future contracts
- Risk is rebalanced: market and operational risk are shared between an asset operator and a trader that specialises in volatile markets
For InCommodities, the value is clear: they get a large, flexible asset in a renewables‑heavy region, without having to build or operate the hardware.
Here’s the thing about battery finance right now: the projects that secure long-term, flexible contracts like this will pull ahead. Banks dislike pure merchant risk, and investors don’t want 100% fixed-revenue PPAs that leave money on the table. Capacity swaps are one of the clearest compromises we’ve seen.
Fluence Gridstack: the tech backbone of Bulabul
The Bulabul BESS uses Fluence’s Gridstack platform, which is purpose-built for utility-scale, grid-facing storage. That’s not just a box of batteries – it’s an integrated system designed around software and control.
Gridstack typically brings together:
- Lithium-ion battery modules for high energy density and proven performance
- Power conversion systems (PCS) to manage AC/DC flows and grid interactions
- Thermal management that keeps cells within optimal performance windows
- Advanced control software to execute dispatch strategies in real time
For a project like Bulabul, the software is arguably the most important layer. The asset needs to:
- Track real-time and forecasted prices across multiple markets
- Respond to frequency deviations in fractions of a second
- Optimise charging and discharging around state-of-charge limits and degradation
- Coordinate multiple project phases (Bulabul 1 and 2) with different storage durations
This is where AI and data-driven optimisation become core to green technology:
Large-scale batteries are no longer “just assets”; they’re algorithmically managed infrastructure that turn volatility into value.
If you’re an investor, developer or large energy user, this is the new reality: value isn’t just in steel and silicon; it’s in the software stack, forecasting models and optimisation engines that run 24/7.
Indigenous equity and community: a better model for green growth
Most companies get community engagement wrong. They treat it as a checkbox: one consultation meeting, a few sponsorships, job promises, done.
Bulabul takes a more serious approach with a benchmark Aboriginal equity model that directly shares the project’s financial upside with Traditional Owners.
Key features:
- The Wambal Bila Indigenous Community Corporation holds an option to acquire 5% equity in the project
- At current valuations, that represents an AU$22.5 million investment opportunity
- This isn’t a once-off payment – it’s a path to ongoing returns for the community
This matters for three reasons:
- Legitimacy – Projects that share ownership build long-term trust. That reduces social risk, planning friction and political backlash.
- Economic justice – Large green infrastructure often sits on or near First Nations land. Equity participation ensures benefits stay local.
- Replicability – If Bulabul’s model works, it will be copied across other Renewable Energy Zones in Australia.
From a green technology lens, this is crucial. A decarbonised grid built on extractive, top-down models will hit social limits fast. A decarbonised grid that builds local wealth and skills earns durable support.
I’ve found that serious investors increasingly ask two questions before backing projects:
- How resilient is the business model to market shifts?
- How resilient is the social licence if politics or policies change?
Bulabul’s combination of long-term trading agreement and Indigenous equity ticks both boxes.
How Bulabul fits into Australia’s green superpower story
Australia is positioning itself as a global green superpower, with energy storage as a supporting pillar. Bulabul isn’t an isolated bet – it sits in a growing national battery pipeline.
Ampyr itself recently picked up a 540MW/2,160MWh grid-forming BESS project in South Australia, designed to provide system strength and stability where synchronous generation is limited.
Across the National Electricity Market (NEM), grid-forming and grid-following batteries are now:
- Backing up high solar and wind penetration
- Providing contingency and regulating reserves faster than thermal plants
- Supporting system restart and black start capabilities
Bulabul’s role in this ecosystem is clear:
- It sits in a Renewable Energy Zone with heavy renewable buildout
- It provides 600MWh of flexible capacity to soak up solar and discharge into evening peaks
- Its long-duration phase (Bulabul 2) supports deeper decarbonisation by covering multi-hour gaps
The reality? This is how coal exits the system. Not in one dramatic policy move, but through a steady buildout of assets like Bulabul that quietly make thermal plants less economically essential year after year.
Lessons for investors, developers and large energy users
Projects like Bulabul offer a practical playbook for anyone serious about green technology and energy storage.
1. Blend long-term certainty with merchant upside
Pure merchant plays are exciting on a spreadsheet and terrifying in a downturn. Overly rigid PPAs cap upside.
Capacity swap structures:
- Provide bankable long-term contracts over a portion of capacity
- Keep uncontracted capacity available for future markets and higher-value services
- Align asset owners with experienced traders that can handle volatility
If you’re planning a new BESS, expect lenders to ask what portion of revenue is locked under contracts that still allow flexibility. Bulabul shows one workable answer.
2. Treat software and AI as core infrastructure
Storage tech is maturing, but the financial performance difference between projects is still huge. The gap usually comes down to how well they’re operated.
Practical moves:
- Prioritise platforms with proven control systems, not just hardware specs
- Invest early in forecasting, optimisation and risk models
- Set up governance around data: what’s tracked, who owns it, how it’s used to refine strategies
In short: if your investment memo talks more about cell chemistry than control algorithms and trading strategies, you’re missing the point.
3. Build genuine community partnerships, not PR exercises
Bulabul’s Aboriginal equity model is the direction big green projects need to move in.
For future projects, that means:
- Bringing communities into ownership and governance, not only into consultation workshops
- Designing shared upside: equity, revenue-share or long-term benefit funds
- Being explicit about skills and employment pathways, not vague promises
This isn’t just ethics. It reduces project risk and delays, which directly improves IRR.
4. Think portfolio, not one-off project
Ampyr isn’t stopping at Bulabul. It’s building a portfolio: different durations, regions and revenue models.
For funds and corporates:
- Mix grid-forming and grid-following assets
- Diversify across regions and market products (FCAS, arbitrage, system strength, capacity)
- Use early projects as data engines to improve later ones
Bulabul is valuable on its own, but even more valuable as part of a data-rich, diversified storage portfolio.
Where green technology goes from here
Bulabul shows what modern green infrastructure looks like when hardware, finance, software and community are actually aligned. A 600MWh battery on its own is just metal and chemistry. Wrapped in a 15‑year capacity swap, advanced control systems, and Indigenous equity, it becomes a cornerstone of a cleaner grid.
For readers following our Green Technology series, this is another clear pattern: AI-driven optimisation, flexible contract design and inclusive ownership are becoming as important as solar panels or turbines themselves.
If you’re an investor, developer or energy user, the next step is simple: ask whether your projects look more like old-school infrastructure, or more like Bulabul. The future of the grid will belong to the latter.