You may enjoy seeing this method of storing energy. Quite impressive and a thousand times more valuable than solar or wind.
The Electric Mountain | Fully Charged
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McByJeX2evM
11 minutes
The Electric Mountain is a “pumped storage facility”. The Tennessee Valley Authority built one at Raccoon Mountain. It went online in 1978.
It’s purpose is to supply electricity during peak hours and recharge itself using electricity from elsewhere during off-peak hours.
It’s primary value is that it can be stopped and started quickly which allows the baseload plants such as coal-fired and nuclear steam to not have to be started and stopped often.
Starting and stopping the steam plants shortens their lifetimes because of expansion and contraction of the steam pipes which leads to cracking and fatigue.
A pumped storage facility is a net user of electricity rather than a producer. Why? Because it takes more energy to pump the water up than is produced when the water comes down through the turbines. It’s like a battery.