Energy grids face a summer of records and retrofits
Operators are leaning on storage and demand response as heat pushes consumption past long-standing peaks.
Grid operators entered the summer expecting pressure. What they did not expect was how quickly battery storage would become the tool of first resort.
Short discharge windows in the early evening have repeatedly avoided rolling reductions, buying time for slower infrastructure work.
The longer-term question remains transmission: storage smooths peaks, but it cannot move power across regions that were never connected.
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