I think you're still thinking of the future grid as the existing grid.
Yes, we'll need lots of storage. But, it will be in various forms. Not necessarily in the form we have now.
Firstly , we will have massive capacity in transport vehicles that are sitting idle. In a sense, that storage will come for free.
Then we have pumped hydro projects. We have so many suitable sites on the east coast we can selectively and quite precisely add them in the most efficient way. No more building walloping big power stations and then having to use the power as it's generated even f we really don't want to.
Then there's hydrogen. Making hydrogen from excess renewable energy gives us so many monetising options. Stored as ammonia for power generation backup. Turned into all sorts of products from fertilizer, plastics, cosmetics etc . So, there should be little wastage as we fine tune the grid. It might mean we have to change how we produce some things but it should mean we can produce them much , much cheaper if we're clever.
For sure towns will go off grid. But only where it's practical. In WA there are already several offgrid projects in the south west. They are more for farms and small communities. Think about the cost of maintaining supply to a handful of customers over a hundred kilometres or more. Then think of fire risk. It is already proving not only to be cheaper but is also proving to be much more reliable.
The grid is going to look quite a bit different in 30 years.
