As the wind power debacle unfolds in South Australia – leaving it with an erratic power supply and rocketing power prices – one of the mythical solutions being peddled is that South Australia need only pop out to the shops and pick up a few terawatt/hours worth of battery storage.

The way it is being pitched – by the likes of Federal Energy and Environment Minister, Josh Frydenberg and SA’s hapless Labor government – it’s as if some forgetful nincompoop failed to order grid-scale electricity storage at the same time Australia was rolling out its 3,771MW of wind power capacity.

There is no example of grid-scale bulk electricity storage operating anywhere in the world.

Where geography and water resources permit (which rules out billiard table flat and desert dry South Australia) pumped hydro can operate as a viable, but expensive store of energy (not electricity) and is the one option…