The United States is in a battery boom, adding nearly as much capacity on the power grid in 2022 as it did in all previous years combined.

The surge is reshaping America's regional electric grids. In California, for example, analysts credit a wave of new battery installations with sparing the state from electric blackouts late last summer, when a searing heat wave sent power demand soaring.

"It means we can move the energy generated by wind and solar to when it is needed, like moving solar generated during the day to the evening when everyone comes home and turns on their air conditioning," said Ric O'Connell, the executive director of GridLab. "It is enabling us to rely more and more on wind and solar."