[chaosbutters]

well, luckily for the US, we have massive hydro power dams in the west that are low because of 20 years of drought, so we can actually do pumped storage.

Ideally, we would pump salt water from oceans to the salt water reservoirs and use surplus energy to desalinate to refill the fresh water ones.

[ncmncm]

Better, just pump sea water to the desert, and let it spread out and evaporate. The mountains will catch the water vapor and fill your reservoirs.

Releasing in Death Valley, you don't even need to pump. A siphon once started will just run indefinitely. (The high point of the siphon would need to be less than 30 feet above sea level.)

You might need to bulldoze up the salt in the fall and take it somewhere.

[cupofpython]

My thoughts exactly. Solar -> Desalination, with all other energy consumption in the middle. Granted, I am not up to date on desalination. I know MIT released something recently but idk the details. Is energy the bottleneck now or is it still material?