(Reuters) - Battery storage firms in the US are seeing surging interest from power-hungry AI data centers, but lengthy queues to connect to the grid and a supply chain heavily dependent on China are hampering the industry's ability to rapidly scale.
Battery energy storage systems, which absorb power when supply is abundant and discharge it back to the grid when needed, have been increasingly deployed in renewable-heavy regions like California, where they help meet demand in the evening, when solar power starts to wane.