Grid-scale battery and pumped-hydro storage that stores power and releases it back to the grid, sitting alongside transmission as an enabler of firm capacity. What constrains it is how fast integrators and cell suppliers can build and deploy storage systems against demand.
A sustained tight read means orders for grid-scale storage systems are running ahead of what integrators and cell suppliers can deploy, so projects queue for battery systems and delivery windows lengthen. Extra grid capacity that depends on firming cannot come online until storage throughput expands. Relief arrives only as new cell and integration capacity qualifies and ramps, over quarters rather than a single order cycle.