Yes, and we'll need all of the energy storage we can get, both for applications that do require continuous or on-demand power and for applications which require

Yes, and we'll need all of the energy storage we can get, both for applications that do require continuous or on-demand power and for applications which require dense, portable power. But every transformation you put your energy through between harvesting it and harnessing it has a cost, whether you are converting your electricity between DC and AC willy-nilly, storing it as chemical energy, or converting it to mechanical motion and storing it as gravitational potential. If you have a list industrial application that is not time sensitive, and is running at night from an 80% efficient storage mechanism (effectively, even if off the grid), you can boost your efficiency by 25% by running when it is sunny! Who wouldn't do that?