alt Hacker News> Time and time again we see that 'one size fits all' is simply not true
Do we though? It feels like we're still in the stage where we're just trying to figure out what the best solution is for grid-scale storage, but once we do figure it out, the most efficient solution will win out over all the others. Yes, there may be some regional variation (e.g. TFA mentions how pumped hydro is great but only makes sense where geography supports it), but overall it feels like the world will eventually narrow things down to a very small number of solutions.
The point I was making isn't that we are or aren't actually narrowing down our options, it is that diversity of options is important. We have artificially limited diversity in our energy ecosystem and the rapid adoption of solar/wind/etc shows that. We could have been here decades ago if we actually encouraged diversity and exploration of alternate energy instead of actively discouraging it. Now that it is impossible to hold wind/solar back they are dominating. We should learn from that and encourage exploring diverse options in storage. Luckily I don't think storage has nearly the pushback that generation has had so I think it will be easier for many options to enter and find their niche.