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Interesting exploitation of the Latent Heat of Fusion X Specific Heat as an energy storage mechanism.

But, molten silicon is a powerful solvent; have they identifire the material and insulation to be used for those "large tanks"?

TXnMA

I was thinking at first they could use some of those underground salt storage sites they currently use for oil storage. At those temperatures it would turn to glass and create a great insulation barrier - I’d think....course more likely it’s just erupt as it interacted when it’s first injected.

Since you asked ...

A storage key

Henry says the system would require tanks thick and strong enough to insulate the molten liquid within.

“The stuff is glowing white hot on the inside, but what you touch on the outside should be room temperature,” Henry says.

He has proposed that the tanks be made out of graphite. But there are concerns that silicon, at such high temperatures, would react with graphite to produce silicon carbide, which could corrode the tank.

To test this possibility, the team fabricated a miniature graphite tank and filled it with liquid silicon. When the liquid was kept at 3,600 F for about 60 minutes, silicon carbide did form, but instead of corroding the tank, it created a thin, protective liner.

“It sticks to the graphite and forms a protective layer, preventing further reaction,” Henry says. “So you can build this tank out of graphite and it won’t get corroded by the silicon.”

The group also found a way around another challenge: As the system’s tanks would have to be very large, it would be impossible to build them from a single piece of graphite. If they were instead made from multiple pieces, these would have to be sealed in such a way to prevent the molten liquid from leaking out. In their paper, the researchers demonstrated that they could prevent any leaks by screwing pieces of graphite together with carbon fiber bolts and sealing them with grafoil — flexible graphite that acts as a high-temperature sealant.

Violating a time-honored tradition at FR I read the whole thing - I'm not a scientist but they have some interesting approaches.

I do think it'd have to be buried and hardened to avoid an attack creating a huge hot explosion.