I store in batteries. I only recently started selling power to the grid (since October) when my batteries are full. So I haven't put much onto the grid being fall and winter weather. And even then I make about 1/4th in cents/kWh that I pay for power when I need it. So I don't count putting power onto the grid as "storing it for myself for later". I count putting power onto the grid as a little gravy on top. The main financial benefit is from not needing to pull much power from the grid to begin with.
When I say 83% of my power is free it's from solar and batteries. I consumed 20,446kWh in power last year (how much power flowed through my electrical panels), but had to pull only 3,440kWh from the grid (16.8% of my power had to come from the grid). That's for an all-electric two-story home, charging the EV for 16K miles (not counting the 10K miles we charged the EV away from home on trips we made that had good charging options).
It doesn't save the world or anything like that. But it does give my wife and me a level of self-reliance we didn't have before. So the Dims' stupid energy policies have less control over us.
In our area, they want to sell systems with no battery backup and that will shut off in blackouts so they don't energize the line to prevent safety hazards (rather than disconnect from the grid). I told them that was a stupid way to do things and that I wanted a grid disconnect and battery backup. Most couldn't supply that. Some could. The other issue is the current power company infrastructure will only allow a limited amount of consumers to pump excess electrons back to the grid. A lot of folks were suckered into systems they cannot hook up due to this issue because they wanted to sell the excess back.
I admire your approach. I presume you live in the Southwest.
The ONLY way I would ever consider solar panels is the way you did. What kind of batteries are you storing the energy in-banks of lead-acid, or do you have a more exotic type like the Tesla storage cells?